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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27658432">The Last Coors Banquet in the Valley</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LulaMadison/pseuds/LulaMadison'>LulaMadison</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombieland (2009) Fusion, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, California, Comedy, Comedy Horror, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, Humor, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, lawrusso</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:41:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>29,436</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27658432</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LulaMadison/pseuds/LulaMadison</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>During the zombie apocalypse Johnny Lawrence searches for the last Coors Banquet in the valley, but instead he finds a 16 year old kid living alone in an abandoned apartment block. He decides to teach the kid how to be a badass Zombie killer.</p><p>(I know some people don't like major character deaths in fic, but there are no 'on screen' character deaths in this fic, although any person not listed in the tags above is assumed to be a zombie or missing. Spoiling it slightly, but any character listed in the tags above isn't going to die.</p><p>There also isn't a lot of horror in this because it's not <em>really</em> about Zombies, it's about finding love and family at the end of the world :-P)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence, Miguel Diaz &amp; Johnny Lawrence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>105</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>215</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Johnny Lawrence was the coolest person Miguel had ever met, and since Zombies had taken over the world three months earlier, he was the <em>only</em> person Miguel had met, or the only person who hadn't tried to kill him on first sight.</p><p>See, for Miguel it started with the world very quickly collapsing around his ears while he was out buying supplies for the coming school year. He hadn't had much time to look at Twitter or Instagram while they moved into their new apartment, and yeah he'd seen the odd post about a new form of rabies, but he thought it was just some meme he didn't really have the context for, so he dismissed it as a joke. </p><p>So when he was leaving the Dollar Tree on Ventura with an arm full of notebooks and pencils he was surprised to see people running out of Petco screaming, and jumping into their cars.</p><p>Two cars smashed into each other in their haste to escape, the drivers jumped out, and began fighting each other in the parking lot. Miguel backed against the window of a hair salon, trying to keep out of their way as they punched each other viciously, and he heard the sound of the TV that was just inside the door blaring out loud, raucous tones and a voice that said, <em>“This is a test of the National Emergency Broadcasting System,”</em> over and over.</p><p>Miguel decided to make his way home as fast as he could, avoiding the busy roads that were filled with overloaded cars trying to escape the city. He ducked behind buildings, and tracked through alleyways, keeping away from the streets where people were fighting each other over a bag of groceries and packs of toilet roll.</p><p>When the alley ran out he had to cut across a boulevard, and found himself outside a store which had flat screen televisions in the window. Most of the sets were showing the emergency broadcast system message, but one small set in the corner was showing flickering, pixelated images of a news report. The panicked presenter was shouting, and although he could hear no sound, Miguel got the message. The world had gone to shit, and the scrolling ribbon at the bottom the screen said, <em>“Zombies attack Los Angeles.”</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When Miguel arrived home the apartment was locked, and when he let himself inside he was surprised to find it empty. He waited for his mom to come home, listening to the world outside slowly go quiet until there was nothing but the occasional sound of distant explosions as looted stores and apartment buildings burnt.</p><p>On the fourth day he saw his first walker shuffling down the empty street, moaning loudly as it dragged a backpack behind it by the strap.</p><p>On the fifth day his mother arrived home, and he wished she hadn't. </p><p>He cried as she scratched at the apartment door with dirty, torn fingernails. </p><p>He wanted to let her in. </p><p>He wasn't sure for certain if he was going to put <em>her</em> out of her misery, or let her put <em>him</em> out of his misery, but in the end he did nothing. He hid behind the door with tears running down his face until she wandered off into the night, and left Miguel alone in a world populated by monsters. </p><p> </p><p>After the food ran out he started venturing into the complex. He locked the gate to the apartment block so that nothing from the outside could get in, then started tapping gently on doors to find out if any of the creatures were lurking inside. </p><p>And everything was fine, until the day he went outside to tap on apartment doors, looked back, saw that the gate to the apartment block had been left open, and he heard the sound of a zombie groaning to his left.</p><p>A hand covered his mouth, and despite his sudden urge to scream, Miguel obeyed the voice that quietly said, “Don't make a sound.”</p><p>The hands that grabbed him turned him around, and he was faced with an older, blonde haired guy with a black strip of material tied round his head, holding a finger to his lips. He whispered, “You understand, right?”</p><p>Miguel nodded, and the guy released his hand from across his mouth, then motioned for him to follow. </p><p>He tiptoed behind him, and then <em>CRACK</em> as Miguel stood on a shard of glass that snapped with an audible echo around the courtyard, and every undead eye turned towards them.</p><p>“Shit...” The guy said, rolling his eyes, as he pushed Miguel out of the way, between two dumpsters. “Stay down, OK.”</p><p>The first walker stumbled towards him, moaning and reaching out with its rotten hands, and the guy raised his leather covered fists, then smashed the creature in the face. It fell, as another zombie reached for him, and he jumped, spinning in the air as he unleashed a savage kick to its face.</p><p>The first zombie was trying to get to its feet when the guy smashed his foot into its head crushing its skull, then he smashed a fist through the face of the other writhing creature.</p><p>Two other corpses were attracted by the sound, lunging towards him, and the guy grabbed the lid of a nearby trash can, and smashed the rim of it into the head of the first zombie, dropping it instantly, then he spun on his feet, dropping to the ground, and sweeping the legs out from under the second one, then smashed the trash can lid into its neck, severing its head from its body.</p><p>Miguel had seen some pretty cool things in his life, but he'd never seen <em>anything</em> as cool as this guy in a red leather jacket emblazoned with a snake, standing over the bodies of the four zombies he'd just killed.</p><p>“<em>Wow!</em>” Miguel said. “That was just like something out a Marvel film.”</p><p>“A what?” The guy asked.</p><p>“Like Iron Man or Black Widow,” Miguel said, and when the guy raised an eyebrow, he asked, “You've never seen a Captain America film?”</p><p>“Nope,” the guy said, as he threw the trash can lid into the dumpster.</p><p>“You really should watch them,” Miguel said. “They are <em>SO</em> cool.”</p><p>“Well, that'll be the first thing on my to do list as soon as the movie theatres reopen,” he said as he turned and started walking away.</p><p>“Can I come with you?” Miguel shouted after him, then he cringed at his own desperation.</p><p>The older man paused, eyed him suspiciously, then shook his head. “I'm not looking to be someone's father, kid.”</p><p>“You're gonna leave me here on my own?” </p><p>“What can I say?” he said backing away, out of the gate, holding his arms out. “The world's a shitty place.” </p><p>“So you're just going to let me die?” Miguel said, following him out into the street, and closing the gate behind him.</p><p>“I can't take care of you,” he said, as he opened the car door, and a beer can fell out into the street. “I can barely take care of myself.”</p><p>“Are you kidding me?” Miguel exclaimed. “You killing those zombies was the most badass thing I've ever seen.”</p><p>The guy smiled, then started the engine of his red sports car, and slowly pulled away.</p><p>Miguel stood watching as the car pulled out into the empty street, then the tail lights came on. The car waited, its engine purring in the silence, then the passenger side door opened.</p><p>“Are you getting in or what?” the guy shouted.</p><p>Miguel sprinted down the street, then jumped into the car before the guy could change his mind.</p><p>“You won't regret this,” Miguel said, as the car sped down the street. “What's your name?”</p><p>“I think I regret it already,” the older man sighed. “Are we really doing this?”</p><p>“Doing what?”</p><p>“When you know someone's name you actually have to give a shit if they live or die.”</p><p>“You don't care if I die?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“Well, I didn't, but I guess now I kinda have to since I'm guessing you're about to tell me your name.”</p><p>“Miguel,” he said. “My name's Miguel Diaz.”</p><p>“Yup, there we go, now I'm responsible for you.”</p><p>“I can take care of myself,” Miguel said.</p><p>“Yeah, it <em>sure</em> looked like it when you were surrounded by those four zombies.”</p><p>“I could have handled it,” Miguel said. “I can run faster than them.”</p><p>“Yup, I imagine you could beat them back to your apartment.”</p><p>“Definitely.”</p><p>“And they would have followed you, and before you know it you've got a fully fledged horde waiting outside your door.”</p><p>“Wait, they do <em>that?</em>” Miguel asked.</p><p>“If one of them sees you, it'll follow you if you're on foot.” The guy said as he turned the car onto Ventura Boulevard. “They don't seem to connect cars with people as much, so usually you can drive right past them, but if you run into a building, and one of them is wailing outside the door it's not going to be long before it attracts more.”</p><p>“I didn't know that,” Miguel said.</p><p>“Well, first lesson's free,” he said. “After that you'll have to start paying me in canned goods.”</p><p>Miguel sat in silence for a moment, suddenly missing his apartment. He'd never seen the world beyond the view from the gates into the quiet residential street, but now as the car weaved its way through burnt out wrecks, along the once busy road that was now lined with looted stores, and strewn with dead bodies, reality was beginning to hit him.</p><p>Everything was gone. The world, and the life he'd known, had simply ended overnight, and there wasn't a single thing he could do about it.</p><p>Miguel could feel the older guys eyes on him, and then he said, “My name's Johnny, but you can call me Mr. Lawrence.”</p><p>“OK, Mr. Lawrence,” Miguel replied.</p><p>Johnny snorted and said, “I'm kidding. Johnny is just fine.”</p><p>The car turned onto a residential street, driving past beautiful houses with white picket fences, and rotting corpses in the driveways, before finally pulling up in front of a gate.</p><p>“Is this your house?” Miguel asked, as he looked up at the enormous white marble mansion, surrounded by a high fence.</p><p>“It is now,” Johnny said, as he pressed the button on a little black box that opened the gate.</p><p>“What happened to the people who lived here?”</p><p>“They're over there somewhere,” Johnny said, motioning towards a pile of zombie corpses. “They were assholes though so don't worry about them.”</p><p>“You knew them?” </p><p>“Worked for them a few times,” Johnny replied, as he pulled the car into the driveway, and closed the gate behind them. “Few times too many, but just enough times to know where the spare key was kept.”</p><p>Johnny opened the front door, and let them both inside, carefully closing and locking it behind them. Johnny walked up the stairs, pausing to say, “Never use the elevator. If it breaks down and you get trapped in there I don't know how the hell to get it open, so you'll be stuck there for all eternity.”</p><p>“This is an incredible place,” Miguel said, as he followed Johnny through the building, looking out through the tall windows onto the fire pit and water cascade pool that lay outside in the courtyard, surrounded by high walls.</p><p>“OK, the rules are this,” Johnny said as he wandered across to the kitchen. “You can go anywhere in the house apart from the garage and the master bedroom on the third floor left hand side. Those are mine.”</p><p>“OK,” Miguel replied.</p><p>“You don't open any of the gates, and doors must be closed after you at all times. And don't make too much noise if you're outside cause it makes them gather and you never know when they'll learn to step on each other and get over the walls.”</p><p>“No noise,” Miguel nodded. “Got it.”</p><p>“If you're hungry help yourself, but don't go <em>too</em> mad, because that stash has got to last us a while, and now it's feeding two,” Johnny said, nodding towards a door that led off the kitchen. </p><p>“And don't touch the booze either, because you are way too young,” then he thought again and shrugged his shoulders. “Actually help yourself. There's no one left to charge me with child endangerment so who cares, right?”</p><p>“OK,” Miguel nodded.</p><p>“Cool,” Johnny said with a nod, then he wandered round the corner into the next room, so Miguel walked after him.</p><p>“Oh, so you're gonna <em>follow</em> me?” Johnny said, seeming almost surprised.</p><p>“You're the first person I've seen in months.”</p><p>“Shit, yeah so probably wanna actually <em>talk</em> to me?” Johnny replied with a wince.</p><p>“Well, yeah.”</p><p>“OK, <em>OK</em>, we can do that,” Johnny said, rubbing his chin. “How old are you?”</p><p>“I'm 16.”</p><p>“Cool, cool...” he said. He sat in silence, biting his lip, then said, “Nah, that's all I've got. Why don't you ask me something?” </p><p>“Do you know why the electricity is still on?” Miguel asked. “I thought all the power stations would be offline by now, but it's still working.”</p><p>“Not that,” Johnny said quickly. “Ask me something else.”</p><p>“OK, what does that patch mean?” Miguel asked, looking at Johnny's jacket. “What's Cobra Kai?”</p><p>“Cobra Kai is the most badass, elite zombie fighting squad,” Johnny said proudly.</p><p>“Wow,” Miguel said. “Do you think I could be a member one day?”</p><p>“Definitely not,” Johnny replied, then he stood up and moved towards the stairs, “Well, getting to know you was awesome. I'm going to the garage now. Do <em>NOT</em> follow me or disturb me for any reason.”</p><p>“OK, I got it,” Miguel said. “You need some alone time.”</p><p>“That's right, I need some time for myself, so no spying on me,” Johnny said, as he took off down the stairs, then he popped back up. “By the way that sounded like I was gonna be jerking off in there or something. I'm not, OK?”</p><p>“OK,” Miguel said with a smile.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
About an hour later Johnny reappeared in the kitchen, and said, “You hungry?”</p><p>“Starving,” Miguel replied, as even though he'd been given permission to eat anything he wanted, he still felt nervous about taking from the other man's stash.</p><p>“Here, go wild,” Johnny said, throwing Miguel a can. </p><p>“Wow, peaches I haven't seen any fruit in weeks,” Miguel said. “You wanna share this with me?” </p><p>“I don't eat green shit,” Johnny replied, as he slapped something into a pan, and started frying it.</p><p>“It's not green though, it's peach,” Miguel said jokingly. “It literally says that right here on the can.”</p><p>“I'm kidding about the peaches, put that shit down,” Johnny said with a smile, then he tipped what he was cooking from the pan and onto a plate, and held it out. “Here try this.”</p><p>Miguel took the plate, picked up the thin burger, and took a bite. “It tastes like McDonald's!”</p><p>“That's because it is,” Johnny said proudly. “There are two just down the street. They're empty now, because all the burgers are right here in this freezer.”</p><p>“This is amazing!” Miguel said, wolfing the burger down. “I never thought I'd taste a McDonald's again. I've actually been dreaming about them.”</p><p>Johnny picked up a bucket, and motioned for Miguel to follow him, as he headed outside, closing the tall glass door behind them.</p><p>It was getting dark outside, but the patio was lit by hidden lights that illuminated the plants and the pool, and it was still warm enough to enjoy the evening air.</p><p>Johnny slumped onto the sofa by the fire pit, and switched on the lights that decorated the edges. “Can't have the fire on 'cause it's run on a gas tank, not the main house supply, but it's still cool to pretend.”</p><p>Miguel sat on the nearest chair, as Johnny pulled a bottle out of the bucket, and asked, “You wanna beer?”</p><p>“I'm not sure I should,” Miguel replied. “I'm only 16.”</p><p>“Budweiser is closer to water than a duck's ass, so it'll be fine,” Johnny said, as he held out the beer again.</p><p>“OK,” Miguel said with a smile, taking the bottle.</p><p>“Like piss water, eh?” Johnny asked, as Miguel took a sip. “Now, Coors Banquet. That's a <em>man's</em> drink.”</p><p>“It's my first beer,” Miguel said, taking another sip.</p><p>“Shame it has to be such a shitty one,” Johnny said, as he took another drink, “But needs must, until we find that Coors.”</p><p>“Have you tried the Mini Mart in Reseda?” Miguel suggested helpfully. </p><p>“Believe me, kid, I've tried <em>everywhere</em>,” Johnny said with a sigh.</p><p>“Shame.”</p><p>“Well, only losers quit, so I'm gonna keep going till I find one.”</p><p>“I thought of a question that I wanted to ask you, but it seems kinda personal,” Miguel said.</p><p>“OK, go for it,” Johnny said. “As long as it's not where babies come from.”</p><p>“I just kinda wanted to know, since I lost my m-mom and my Grandma,” Miguel said, stumbling over his words. “What happened with you?” </p><p>“I got lucky, I guess. I didn't have a family to lose. My mom died a while a back, long before all this,” Johnny said quietly, trailing off. He drained his beer, then took another from the bucket. “And hopefully my shithead stepdad was one of the first to be eaten, because he <em>definitely</em> deserved it. Asshole.”</p><p>They sat in silence for a while, drinking their beers, and then Miguel asked, “Can I ask another question?”</p><p>“Go for it,” Johnny said, kicking his feet up onto the side of the fire pit.</p><p>“Have you ever killed a person? Like not a zombie, but someone who wasn't dead?”</p><p>“<em>Wow</em>,” Johnny said, his eyebrows shooting up. “You sure know how to pick your questions, huh?”</p><p>“I'm sorry,” Miguel said. “You don't h-”</p><p>“Once,” Johnny interrupted, picking at his beer label, not even looking at Miguel. “I'm not sure if it counts though because he was infected. Once one of those things gets you you're already dead, even if you're still breathing.”</p><p>“That must have been hard,” Miguel said said.</p><p>Johnny stood up. “Well, I think that's about enough beer and misery tonight. Get some sleep. Early start tomorrow.”</p><p>“What's tomorrow?”</p><p>“Supplies run,” Johnny replied. “We can swing by your old apartment and pick up your stuff too.”</p><p>Johnny picked up his bucket, then said, “You can use any bedroom you like apart from the master. All the beds are made up, and make sure you close all the doors behind you,” then he vanished into the enormous house.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Miguel woke early the next morning, and spent the first 30 seconds confused as to where he was. After a quick shower he spent some time exploring the cavernous mansion, and was surprised to find a gym, and a home cinema, complete with tiered seating, and soundproofed walls.</p><p>“Did you know there's a cinema room on the ground floor?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“Yeah,” Johnny replied, checking his weapons before heading out. “It doesn't work though. It's just static.”</p><p>“Have you tried playing DVDs?” </p><p>“There's no player. It just seems to have a bunch of wires.”</p><p>“It probably used to run on streaming, but there's bound to be a HMDI socket on there somewhere,” Miguel said. “If we could get a Blu-ray player from one of these houses, and it wouldn't take long to set it up.”</p><p>“You can do that?” Johnny asked, and Miguel nodded.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
They were driving down Ventura Boulevard again, and so far the only responsibility Miguel had been entrusted with was to skip to the next track on the 80s CD if a song came on that Johnny didn't like.</p><p>“Bull<em>shit</em>, skip it,” Johnny said. “What's the next track?” </p><p>Miguel read the back of the CD case. “Uhhh... A band called Simply Red?”</p><p>“Even <em>worse</em>, skip again.”</p><p>Finally they found a track that Johnny liked, and he opened a beer, drinking it with one arm out of the open window as he manoeuvred the car down the street, singing along to a song called <em>Nothing but a Good Time</em> by a band named Poison that Miguel had never heard before, but it sounded pretty cool. Miguel could almost have felt like it was just another sunny day in the valley, if it hadn't been for the overturned school bus in front of them.</p><p>Miguel looked through the windows of the bus and saw ash faced children, no older than ten years old, pawing their hands against the windows, trying to get out. He looked away quickly and asked, “Why are we driving over here? Shouldn't we be checking houses in Encino first?”</p><p>“<em>Ha!</em>” Johnny exclaimed. “Trust me kid, all those rich idiots in Encino are into some strange shit these days. Everyone must have been following some vegan, fresh food diet because every house smells like a sewer from all the rotten vegetables, and you won't find a single can of hot dogs in any of those joints.”</p><p>“We're going to Reseda?” Miguel asked, recognising where he was.</p><p>“That's right,” Johnny said. “If you want decent food you have to go into Reseda where they don't have none of that gluten free crap, just freezers full of meat and hamburgers. Real man's food.”</p><p>As they drove Miguel looked out the car window between skipping tracks on the CD, and noticed that some of the doors had red crosses spray painted on them. “I wonder what those crosses mean,” he said. “Do you think it's some kind of cult?”</p><p>Johnny laughed. “Nah, it was me.”</p><p>“You painted them on places with zombies?”</p><p>“It means I've checked in there for Coors Banquet,” Johnny said, as he pulled the car up outside of the apartment block. “Go on then, go get what you need.”</p><p>“You aren't coming with me?” Miguel asked.<br/>
 <br/>
“I'm not going to leave you, if that's what you're worried about,” Johnny said.</p><p>“What if there are zombies inside?” Miguel asked.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Thirty minutes later they were driving again. Johnny had come inside and kept watch while Miguel packed a small bag of clothes, then asked, “Photos?”</p><p>“All on my phone,” Miguel said holding it up.</p><p>They pulled into a small block of residential houses, and Miguel asked, “What do you do if there are people still living in the houses?”</p><p>“Most people died in the first few days or they cleared out,” Johnny said. “You were the first living person I've seen in six weeks.”</p><p>Miguel sat for a moment, and Johnny asked, “Do you want to stay in the car?”</p><p>Miguel shook his head. “I want to come with you.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The house was thankfully empty, devoid of both human and undead life, and they quickly searched the cupboards for food and supplies. They filled shopping bags with canned food, bleach, alcohol, and toilet rolls, and hunted through DVD and CD collections.</p><p>“Holy <em>shit</em>,” Johnny said, as he pulled out a plastic cover.</p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>“Only the best film <em>ever</em> made,” Johnny said, holding up the scuffed copy of <em>Iron Eagle</em>.</p><p>“Never heard of it,” Miguel replied.</p><p>“Come on, we need to find something to play it on, because you are are about to get an education,” Johnny said, excitedly slapping Miguel on the shoulder.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Back at the mansion it hadn't taken Miguel long to hook the Blu-ray player they'd found up to the HDMI socket on the projector, and after some tinkering with the sound levels, they finally settled back to watch the film with some out of date bags of Chips, and a mini fridge full of Coors Light.</p><p>At one point Miguel looked over at Johnny, and saw how misty eyed he was at the death of Chappy, and how much he was genuinely enjoying the film.</p><p>“What did you think?” Johnny asked at the end of the film.</p><p>“It was a bit of a <em>Top Gun</em> rip off, don't you think?” Miguel asked.</p><p>Johnny held a finger up. “<em>Iron Eagle</em> came out four months before <em>Top Gun</em>.”</p><p>“<em>Oh!</em>” Miguel said. “It was pretty cool.”</p><p>“Cool,” Johnny said. “You kids these days wouldn't know a good film if it bit you on the ass.”</p><p>“No, no, I enjoyed it!” Miguel said quickly.</p><p>Johnny left the cinema room, carrying a bucket full of empty beer cans, and had a quick look through the glass doors, checking the perimeter before heading up to the kitchen, where he tipped out the empties, and refilled the bucket with more beer.</p><p>“You want another?” Johnny asked, as he perched the bucket on the edge of the the fire pit.</p><p>“I think two is enough for me,” Miguel said with a laugh.</p><p>“Come on then,” Johnny said, holding out his hand.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Hit my hand,” Johnny said. “Hit it as hard as you can.”</p><p>“Nahhhh...” Miguel said, shaking his head. “I don't want to hurt you.”</p><p>“As if you <em>could</em>,” Johnny laughed. “Come on. Let's see what you've got.”</p><p>“OK,” Miguel said, as he raised his fists like a boxer.</p><p>He punched.</p><p>“Harder,” Johnny said.</p><p>He punched again.</p><p>“OK, tuck your thumb in,” Johnny said taking hold of his hand. “Now try again.”</p><p>Miguel punched again, harder this time.</p><p>“Not bad, not bad,” Johnny said. “You better get to bed. Early start in the morning.”</p><p>“Are we going to find more food?” </p><p>Johnny shook his head, as he pulled another beer out of the bucket, and cracked open the can. “It's your first day of training.”</p><p>“Training for what?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“You're going to be the second most badass zombie killer alive,” Johnny said.</p><p>“Really?” Miguel asked excitedly. “Who's the first?”</p><p>“Me, <em>duh</em>,” Johnny said. “Wasn't that obvious?”</p><p>Miguel broke out into a wide smile. “And you're going to be my teacher?”</p><p>“No,” Johnny said proudly. “I'm gonna be your sensei.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The white mansion in Encino is actually a real place. I was lucky enough to stay there for a few days while visiting America and what an incredible building it is! If you want to know what it looks like it you can see it <a href="https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4230-Valley-Meadow-Rd-Encino-CA-91436/19992072_zpid/?mmlb=g,2">here</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next day Miguel woke to bright sunshine streaming through the curtains of his new room. He sleepily clambered out of bed, and was about to head for the bathroom for a shower when he heard his name being called from outside the house. He pulled back the curtains, and said, “What the <em>hell?</em>”</p><p>“Hurry up!” Johnny shouted as he waved from the driveway, standing next to a row of zombies that were chained to the <em>inside</em> of the fence. “First day of training!”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“About time,” Johnny said, taking a drink of his beer, as Miguel finally walked out onto the driveway. “You ready to start work?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Miguel said nervously.</p><p>“Yes, <em>what?</em>” Johnny asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“Yes, sir?”</p><p>“You will always address me as Sensei, is that understood?”</p><p>“Yes, Sensei!” Miguel said loudly.</p><p>“OK, so before I teach you any actual techniques, you need to learn about your enemy,” Johnny said. He took another drink, then pulled out what looked like a snapped off radio aerial. He extended it, then whipped it into the face of the first zombie. </p><p>“<em>This</em> is your enemy. This is a zombie, and the first thing to remember about them is that in a one-on-one fight, a live human will <em>ALWAYS</em> have superiority over a single zombie.”  </p><p>He took another drink from his can. “You run on <em>brains</em>, and zombies only run on instinct, which means they are as dumb as a Valley chick after three drinks, and if you can't out-think a zombie then you don't deserve to be alive.</p><p>Now tell me, Mr Diaz, what do you notice about these things that's different to your average zombie on the street?” </p><p>Miguel thought for a moment, listening to the breathy sounds that were emanating from them. “They're quiet?” </p><p>“That's right. One of the biggest problems you will face when you encounter a zombie is that it will moan more than a porn star, and that attracts other zombies,” Johnny said, then he whipped the aerial against the zombie's throat. “If you can't immediately kill a zombie you should always punch it in the throat and severely damage it's trachea so it can't make any sound. </p><p>Following on from that, we do not kill zombies with guns. They should always be your last resort,” Johnny said. “Why don't we kill zombies with guns, Mr. Diaz?”</p><p>Miguel thought for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows, then said, “Because guns kill more gun owners than zombies?”</p><p>“<em>NO!</em>” Johnny shouted. “We don't use guns because they are really <em>LOUD</em>, and what do loud noises attract?” </p><p>“Zombies,” Miguel said, suddenly understanding </p><p>“That's right. You shoot a gun and you are announcing your location to every zombie in a one mile radius, and they are all gonna head straight for you.”</p><p>“Why do you carry a gun with you if you don't believe in them?” Miguel asked, nodding to the revolver Johnny kept in a holster on his belt. </p><p>“That's a last resort,” Johnny said. “That's for me if I ever get bitten, or I'm in a situation I know I can't get out of.”</p><p>“Oh,” Miguel said, wishing he'd never asked, because that was kinda depressing.</p><p>Johnny drained his can, and threw it over his shoulder. “Now a good thing to remember is that the decay state of a zombie is a indicator of how to fight it. When a zombie has just turned it is just as fast as any human, so those you need to run from and then ambush them from the back.</p><p>The older a zombie is the easier it is to kill, because their bones get brittle with age.” Johnny spun on his feet, then kicked the zombie from the side, snapping both its legs with ease. “A simple kick will drop it to the floor, and from there you can stamp it's skull.”</p><p>“OK, Sensei,” Miguel said, wincing at the injury, as the zombie remained hung from the fence, with one of its broken legs dangling by a thin strip of rotting flesh. </p><p>“The most honourable way to kill a zombie is with your bare hands,” Johnny said, then he quickly added, “Well, not <em>bare</em>. Gloves obviously, always wear gloves. You punch one of these fuckers in the mouth and cut your knuckle on its teeth you <em>will</em> end up losing your hand. Believe me, I've seen it and it's a god damn unpleasant way to go.” </p><p>Johnny took out of a pair of thick leather motorcycle gloves and handed them to Miguel. “OK, put those on and punch the zombie as hard as you can. Let's see if you can break its nose.”</p><p>Miguel pulled on the gloves, then stood looking at the creature. It was female, with long hair, and it was wearing what was probably once a really expensive jacket.</p><p>“What is the problem, Mr Diaz?” Johnny asked, as he opened another can of beer. </p><p>“It used to be a person,” Miguel said quietly. </p><p>“And is it a person <em>now?</em>” </p><p>“No, but-” </p><p>“<em>But?</em>” </p><p>“It still <em>looks</em> like one,” Miguel said. </p><p>“Stop with the PC bullshit. These things are evil, and they won't hesitate to kill you if given the chance, so punch it.” </p><p>Miguel held up his fist, then punched the zombie. “Oh, it <em>smells</em>.”</p><p>“That's just the rotten air getting expelled. It's not breathing, so hit it again.”</p><p>He hit, a little harder this time, but the creature wasn't phased.</p><p>“OK, look at me,” Johnny said, as he put his hands on Miguel's shoulders, turning him around. “If you don't kill this thing it <em>will</em> kill you instead, and it won't care that you look like a person, it won't care that you're just a kid. Now remember the people you've lost. They were killed by one just like this, so what are you going to do to it?”</p><p>Johnny turned him around to face the creature. Miguel paused, thinking about his family, his mother, and his grandma. “Kill it.”</p><p>“You don't sound so sure.”</p><p>“I'm going to <em>kill it!</em>” Miguel yelled, then he let out a shout and punched the zombie as hard as he could, then kept pounding until it hung lifelessly from the chains.</p><p>“<em>Nice</em> work,” Johnny said, as he slapped Miguel on the back.</p><p>“Is it dead?” Miguel asked breathlessly.</p><p>“It doesn't take much to damage the brain on these things, especially as they get older,” Johnny said. “We can work more on your technique in the gym later, but today I just wanted you see that these things are nowhere near as tough as you thought.”</p><p>“I punched a zombie to death,” Miguel said in disbelief.</p><p>“And after punching comes kicking, because kicking zombies is <em>BADASS</em>,” Johnny said, whipping his pointer into the next zombies face. “So if you kick it in the nose, you might get lucky and push the cartilage into it's brain, but chances are you're just gonna be dealing with a pissed off corpse.</p><p>If you hit it in the jaw, again you might get lucky, and it's lower jaw will come off. That's good because it can't bite you, but these things are so stupid they will still try to come at you, and if they scratch you then that's it, game over.</p><p>If you hit it with an upward motion, right here, under the jaw, with enough force, then <em>BOOM!</em>” Johnny unleashed a savage kick. “And the head just pops right off.”  </p><p>“You wanna be careful with these,” Johnny said, picking up the head. “They can still bite.” </p><p>“Holy <em>shit!</em>” Miguel said, as Johnny kicked the zombie head over the fence like it was a soccer ball. “I can't believe you just did that!”</p><p>“You wanna try?” Johnny asked, as he indicated towards the next zombie with his radio aerial pointer.</p><p>“I don't think I can get my leg that high,” Miguel said, then the zombie lunged for him, so he took a quick step back.</p><p>“Did you just flinch?” Johnny asked sharply.</p><p>“Well, it's trying to <em>eat</em> me, so yeah,” Miguel said.</p><p>Johnny raised his eyebrows.</p><p>“I mean, yes Sensei, I flinched.”</p><p>“You can't afford to be afraid of these things,” Johnny said, as he grabbed Miguel by the back of the neck, and pushed him towards the zombie. “Respect their power yes, but if you are scared you lose focus and that leads to mistakes, and we can't afford to make mistakes out there.”</p><p>“What are you <em>doing?</em>” Miguel shrieked, as the zombie's rotten hands just missed the tip of his nose.</p><p>“Calm down, and just <em>breathe</em>,” Johnny said, as he held Miguel still. “It can't reach you. Take the time to assess it, and decide how you're going to kill it.” </p><p>“I don't know,” Miguel gasped, trying to pull back out of Johnny's grip, which seemed to make the zombie even more agitated, and it reached out, thrashing in the air.</p><p>“Is it fresh?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“No,” Miguel ground out.</p><p>“Is it old,” Johnny asked.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“So <em>think</em>, how are you going to kill it?”</p><p>Miguel tried to get his breathing under control, then stilled his movements. As he calmed down he noted that the zombie seemed to slow its movements too, and it was now just randomly pawing at the air, missing him with every swipe.</p><p>“It's old, so I'm going to disable it first by breaking its legs,” Miguel said, as Johnny finally let go of his neck. “Then when its on the ground I'm going to stamp on its face.”</p><p>“Excellent work,” Johnny said, putting his hand on Miguel shoulder. “How are you feeling now?”</p><p>“Calmer,” Miguel said. “When I used to see these things through the window at my apartment I was so scared that I just wanted to cry. Now I can see there are ways to fight them that don't need guns, and I feel a bit better about it.”</p><p>“Guns are for pussies,” Johnny said. “Killing a zombie with your fists or your feet is badass.”</p><p>Miguel smiled, finally stepping back from the zombie.</p><p>“And now the final lesson of the day,” Johnny said, then he drove the long Aerial through the eye of the last zombie. “Everything around you can be used as a weapon.”</p><p>Johnny drained his can, scrunched it up, and tossed it over his shoulder. “Oh, and watch out for goth kids. There are still a few alive, and you don't want to punch them by mistake. They scratch like girls, and they <em>will</em> go for your eyes, believe me.” </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They didn't venture out to scavenge for the next two weeks, instead they stayed within the walls of the mansion, while Johnny taught Miguel how to punch and kick with power and accuracy. </p><p>Miguel quickly found that he enjoyed the physical activity, but even more than that he enjoyed the company of his sensei, and he looked forward to every day in a way that he hadn't since before the world ended.</p><p>While Miguel would practise Johnny would walk around him, his hands behind his back.</p><p>“Lesson one, <em>Strike first</em>, never wait for the enemy to attack,” Johnny shouted, as Miguel kicked a bag they had rigged from the ceiling. “If you can kick the head off one of these things before it even realises you are there, then it can't make a sound and attract other zombies.”</p><p>“Lesson two, <em>strike hard</em>,” Johnny shouted, “because they may look frail, but if you do a half-assed job they will get back up and take you down.”</p><p>“Lesson three, <em>no mercy</em>,” Johnny shouted “because these things show no mercy, so neither will we.”</p><p> </p><p>At the end of the second week Miguel felt ready. His training was going well, he could break boards with his feet, and he was confident that when the time came that he would be able to kick the head off a zombie.</p><p>“Are you ready to go outside, Mr Diaz?” Johnny shouted.</p><p>“Yes, Sensei!”</p><p>“Are you going to be a badass zombie killer, Mr Diaz?”</p><p>“Yes, Sensei!”</p><p>“Are you afraid?”</p><p>“<em>No</em>, Sensei!”</p><p>“Good,” Johnny said. “Fear does not exist in this dojo.” </p><p>Miguel screwed his face up and asked, “What's a dojo?” </p><p>“The world is your dojo, Mr Diaz,” Johnny said, “because that's where you're going for the next stage of your training.” </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
They left the mansion with music blaring. Miguel was wearing sunglasses, his motorcycle gloves, and a black leather jacket that Johnny had brought back from a solo trip out.  He rolled down the window, enjoying the sun, nodding his head in time to <em>Back in the Game</em> by Airbourne and looked out over city.</p><p>Zombies were shambling around the street, sometimes raising their heads as the car drove past, and for the first time he didn't feel afraid at the sight of them. </p><p>They pulled into an old junk yard, and drove to a clearing next to a large abandoned brick building, then climbed out of the car.</p><p>“You ready for this?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“Yes, Sensei,” Miguel replied.</p><p>“You can do this, but if you wanna survive you gotta be hungry, are you hungry?”</p><p>“<em>Yes</em>, Sensei!” Miguel shouted.</p><p>Johnny got back in the car, slammed the door behind him, and rolled down the window. He pressed the CD into the player and said, “Good, cause so are they.” </p><p>“What are you doing?” Miguel shrieked as Johnny turned the radio up full blast.</p><p>There was a moaning sound from the abandoned building, and two zombies emerged from the darkness within with red blood still dripping down their overalls.</p><p>“Uh oh! You better run, Mr Diaz, 'cause they look like fresh ones,” Johnny laughed as he twisted the cap off a bottle of beer.</p><p>Miguel took off at a run, the zombies chased after him, and he was suddenly thankful that he'd spent hours on the running machine and sprinting up the long staircases of the three storey mansion. They were fast, and he couldn't lose them as he wound his way down paths between the abandoned cars.</p><p>“How much longer?” Miguel asked as he ran past the red sports car, still pursued by the zombies. </p><p>“Another lap, keep going,” Johnny shouted, waving him on.</p><p>After the fourth lap, when Miguel went past the car it was empty, and as he ducked round the next corner Johnny grabbed him and pushed him round behind the Firebird.</p><p>As the zombies ran past, Johnny stuck his leg out low, and used the zombies own speed to send one of them sprawling across the floor. He jammed his foot on its back, using his weight to keep it from getting to its feet, and nodded at the other zombie. “Go get it.”</p><p>Miguel quickly sprinted round the car, and placed himself behind the zombie, which was now turning back, and letting out growling moans as it watched Johnny with dead eyes.</p><p>“Diaz, you better take that thing out or it's coming for me.”</p><p>Miguel noticed a long shard of metal as he ran, and grabbed it, then he put his foot on the car bumper, the next on the bonnet, then launched himself into the air. His kick connected with the zombie's shoulder, knocking it the ground, and he smashed the metal shard through its eye, killing it instantly.</p><p>“Nicely done!” Johnny shouted, as he smashed his heel into the temple of the zombie on the floor.</p><p>“That felt <em>AWESOME!</em>” Miguel shouted, as Johnny held his hand up for a high five.</p><p>“Totally badass!” Johnny said, as he grabbed Miguel's hand and pulled him in for a hug. “You might be able to beat me for the zombie killer title in a few years time if you carry on like that!”</p><p>“Are we going to kill some more?”</p><p>“Nah, it's time to go back to the house and have a few beers to celebrate.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>On the way back to the mansion they were driving down a wide boulevard when Johnny suddenly hit the breaks. “Son of a <em>bitch!</em>”</p><p>“What is it?” Miguel asked, peering down the street.</p><p>“Come with me,” Johnny said, as he got out of the car, grabbed a bag from the trunk, and slung it over his shoulder.</p><p>Miguel followed behind him and they ran across the street, then went into an alleyway. Johnny started climbing a metal ladder that was embedded into the wall, and Miguel climbed after him, until he found himself standing on the platform of a giant billboard.</p><p>“What are we doing up here?”</p><p>“Hold this,” Johnny said, as he threw Miguel the bag, and started shaking a can of red spray paint.</p><p>Johnny started spraying on the board, and Miguel tilted his head, trying to guess what it was. “Is that a rocket ship?”</p><p>“It's a dick, <em>duh!</em>” Johnny said, as he started drawing the balls.</p><p>“That's <em>really</em> bad.”</p><p>“What?” Johnny asked incredulously. “It's not like LaRusso will still be alive to see it. I guarantee that loser got eaten on the first day.”</p><p>When Johnny was happy with the extremely large penis he had drawn next to the man's face, he reached into the bag and pulled out an old Polaroid camera. “I only have two shots left on this, and I was saving them for a <em>really</em> special occasion, so come on, get in here with me.”</p><p>Johnny put his arm around Miguel's shoulder, and pulled him closer, then angled the camera up, making sure he was getting the painting in shot as best he could tell, then said, “Say dick cheese!”</p><p>Miguel burst out laughing as Johnny pressed the button, and he was sure he had wrecked the picture. They sat with their backs against the billboard, passing a bottle of beer between them, as they enjoyed the sunset, waiting for the photo to finally develop. </p><p>As the photo slowly emerged Miguel was relieved to see that they were both smiling broadly, looking completely badass, and the dick was clearly visible.</p><p>“Do you mind if I take a picture of it on my phone?” Miguel asked. “It's a great photo.”</p><p>“Sure,” Johnny said. “Is that where you keep all your photos?”</p><p>“Yeah, you wanna see?” Miguel asked, and Johnny nodded.</p><p>“OK,” Miguel said, as he opened the phone, and scrolled through the album. “This is my Grandma. She used to live with us, and she was really funny. She used to smoke a <em>lot</em> of weed, and she thought I didn't know what she was doing, but I knew.”</p><p>Miguel scrolled further. “This is my mom. I think you would have really liked her.”</p><p>“She looks nice,” Johnny said, staring down at the picture. He sniffed, then looked away, draining the beer and tossing the empty into the alley below. </p><p>Miguel took a close up picture of the Polaroid, then offered it back to Johnny.</p><p>“Thanks,” he replied, as he took the picture. He opened his red jacket, and put his hand in the inside pocket. He pulled out an envelope and opened it, then a photo fell on the floor. “Shit.”</p><p>Miguel watched as Johnny grabbed the photo, and stuffed it back in the envelope, along with the Polaroid. He'd got enough of a view of the picture while it was laying on the floor to recognise it as a young kid, maybe 10 years old, posing with a soccer ball, and Miguel wondered who it was.</p><p>Johnny had said he got lucky, that he had no family, but perhaps that was just a lie to protect himself from the ugly truth. He decided not to press the issue, and instead said, “We should start heading back before it gets dark.”</p><p> </p><p>When they arrived back at the house Johnny had gone down to the garage for a while, then emerged an hour later carrying a bucket full of beer cans. Miguel sat by the fire pit sipping on one beer as Johnny drank everything that was in the bucket, then he announced that it was bedtime, and as Miguel walked up the stairs, he was pretty sure that Johnny went down to the garage again.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The next morning they were on the road again, music blaring over the stereo, as if the previous evening hadn't happened.</p><p>“Where are we going?” Miguel asked, noticing that they were heading towards Encino Hills, rather than Reseda.</p><p>“I need to collect something,” Johnny said, as they drove along residential streets, then pulled up outside a big house.</p><p>“I won't be long if you wanna stay here and mind the car,” Johnny said.</p><p>“It's OK, I'll come in and watch your back.”</p><p>They went round the back of the huge house, past a large swimming pool, and Johnny kicked over flower pots till he found the key for the back door. The inside of the house was untouched, with dishes still inside the washer, as if the owners had spring cleaned right before the apocalypse.</p><p>They crept up the stairs, crossed the landing, then entered a large bedroom, and Johnny knelt down, pulling boxes from under the bed. He rummaged through the boxes until he found what he was looking for and stuffed it in his pocket.</p><p>“Whose room was this?” Miguel asked, looking around.</p><p>“Mine,” Johnny said, “Or it was, until I was about 18.”</p><p>“<em>Wow</em>. You were rich.”</p><p>“My Stepdad was rich. I suppose I was too, since he let me buy whatever the hell I wanted, but it all came at a price,” Johnny said, looking around. “Come on, let's get out of here.”</p><p>They crept down the stairs, and he followed Johnny through to the huge lobby.</p><p>“I might have known it,” a voice came from behind them.</p><p>Johnny's head immediately dropped, he grimaced, then let out a sigh. “Hi, Sid.”</p><p>“Even in all this, here you are, still needing my help,” Sid said, shuffling closer.</p><p>“I didn't come here for anything of yours, I came here for something of mine,” Johnny said, holding up the Cobra Kai patch he'd stuffed into his jacket.</p><p>“I'm amazed you've survived, given that you could barely look after yourself before all <em>this</em> happened,” Sid countered, then he looked Miguel up and down disdainfully. “Who's this?” </p><p>“I'm Miguel, sir.” </p><p>Sid turned towards Johnny. “Did you pick this one up to replace the one you lost?” </p><p>“Don't you even <em>dare!</em>” Johnny shouted, stepping closer to the old man.</p><p>“Sensei,” Miguel quietly said, moving closer, and putting his hand on Johnny's arm.</p><p>Johnny looked at him briefly, then turned back to Sid. “I should have known even <em>zombies</em> wouldn't eat a sack of shit like you.” </p><p>“Go on, get out of here before Rhonda gets back,” Sid said.</p><p>Johnny walked to the side table in the hall, and picked up a picture frame that stood next to a vase. He smashed the frame against the table, then pulled the picture out through the broken glass.</p><p>“I'm taking this,” Johnny said, holding up the picture of a blonde woman. “I want <em>nothing</em> from you.”</p><p>“I don't know how she put up with you,” Sid shouted after them, as Johnny walked quickly through to the kitchen, and Miguel followed after him.</p><p>Johnny climbed into the car, slamming the door after him. He started the engine, put his hands on the wheel, then rested his forehead against them.</p><p>“Are you OK?” Miguel asked quietly.</p><p>Johnny sat up, and shook his head vaguely. “I shouldn't have come here,” he whispered, then started driving for home.</p><p>With no CD playing the drive back to the mansion was unbearably silent. Every time Miguel stole sideways glances over at Johnny he could see how visibly upset the man was, as he drove with one hand on the wheel, gripping tightly till his knuckles were white.</p><p>“So, your stepdad's an asshole, huh?” Miguel asked quietly, breaking the silence. </p><p>Johnny let out a small snort of amusement. “He sure is.”</p><p>“Who's the lady in the picture?” </p><p>Johnny carried on driving, his eyes fixed on the road. “My mom.”</p><p>“She looked pretty.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Johnny replied. “Yeah, she was.”</p><p> </p><p><br/>
Johnny disappeared to the garage as soon as they got home, and Miguel found a needle and cotton in one of the drawers at the house, and sewed the Cobra Kai patch to his leather jacket. He'd stabbed himself in the fingers more times that he cared to admit, but when he put it on and checked it out in the mirror he looked awesome.</p><p>“Hey, look how cool this turned out,” Miguel said, when Johnny appeared with a half empty bottle of whiskey in his hand, almost falling over his own feet as he walked into the kitchen.</p><p>“Looks badass,” Johnny slurred. </p><p>“Here, let me help you,” Miguel said as Johnny staggered in, and he guided him to chair.</p><p>Miguel quickly cooked up some hamburgers, forcing Johnny to eat them in hopes of sobering him up slightly, but after he finished eating Johnny drank the rest of the Whiskey, then went out into the courtyard and climbed up onto the edge of the firepit.</p><p>“<em>Come on!</em>” he shouted at the top of his voice. “Come and get me!”</p><p>“<em>Stop!</em>” Miguel pleaded. “You're going to attract them here, and I can't fight them alone.”</p><p>“We're all gonna die, kid!” Johnny shouted, as he threw his empty bottle across the courtyard. “We're all gonna die!”</p><p>“Yeah, if you keep shouting we will!” Miguel said.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
When Miguel woke the next morning he was surprised to find that Johnny was awake before him, and was making a lot of noise in the kitchen, as he opened and closed cupboard doors. It had taken him an hour to calm Johnny down and get him to go to bed the previous night, but here he was in the early morning light throwing cans into boxes.</p><p>“What's going on?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“I'm leaving,” Johnny said tersely.</p><p>“Where are you going?”</p><p>“You can come with me if you want?” he said questioningly, almost as if he was expecting Miguel to choose the empty house over him.</p><p>“Of course I'm coming with you,” Miguel replied. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“OK, so don't forget the code,” Johnny said, as he set the alarm on the white mansion. “If anything happens to me, at least you'll have a safe place to come back to.”</p><p>“You really think an alarm will stop people breaking in?”</p><p>“If anyone tries to break in it'll make so much noise all the zombies from here to Reseda will hear it and come piling down,” Johnny said with a grin. </p><p>“Bye baby,” Johnny said, patting the red Firebird, then he climbed into the large black car parked next to it.</p><p>“What's in the trailer?” Miguel asked, looking over his shoulder.</p><p>“Supplies and shit,” Johnny said, as he raised the garage door. “Don't go in there.” </p><p>They set out driving, but Miguel still hadn't plucked up the courage to ask where they were going, or why they had left the safety of the big white house. The music was playing, and Miguel was listlessly skipping the dull tracks, when Johnny exclaimed, “Oh, for god's sake!”</p><p>“What?” Miguel asked, looking down the street.</p><p>“Get in the back quickly and open the door,” Johnny said, as he wheeled the car around.</p><p>Miguel clambered into the back seat, as Johnny slammed the breaks on and opened the passenger side door. “Get in!”</p><p>A dark haired guy threw a heavy bag into the back seat, then he and a kid jumped into the car, slamming the doors behind them, and Johnny hit the accelerator, sending the zombies that were chasing them flying.</p><p>“Thanks for helping us,” The guy said breathlessly. “Not many people would do...” </p><p>The man stopped talking, his mouth opening and closing, then he said, “<em>Johnny?</em> Is that <em>you?</em>”</p><p>“You're just in time, LaRusso,” Johnny said, as he skipped to the next track on the CD player. “Listen, they're playing your song.”</p><p>Johnny turned up the CD player and the opening chords o<em>f Dude Looks Like a Lady</em> by Aerosmith filled the car.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Extra long chapter today! I knew exactly where this story was going, as the entire thing was plotted out before I posted chapter one, but this chapter in particular just kept growing and there was no convenient place to break it :-P</p><p>I also originally planned for this fic to be 3 chapters long, and it's now 5.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had only been a few hours since they picked up their new companions as they were running from zombies across the lot of a car dealership, but Miguel had already given up trying to figure out what the hell was going on with his Sensei and Mr LaRusso.</p><p>As far as Miguel could tell they had known each other when they were about his age, but neither could agree on <em>exactly</em> what had happened between them. </p><p>Apparently there had been some bullying, or justified reaction to the stealing of a girlfriend, yet the girlfriend had already ended the relationship, so actually <em>wasn't</em> a girlfriend. There was a cliff, or a hill, that someone had been pushed down or gently tapped down, depending on who you listened to, and something about a knee and a kick, and absolutely <em>none</em> of it made any sense.</p><p>As they drove along tiny streets, avoiding the 405 that was choked with burnt out cars, Johnny and Mr LaRusso had argued the entire time.</p><p>“If Zombies eat brains it's no wonder <em>you</em> survived,” Mr LaRusso said.</p><p>“You want a smack in the mouth, LaRusso?” Johnny snapped.</p><p>And it went on like that for TWO. HOURS.</p><p>“Hey,” Miguel said, to the kid who sat on the back seat with him, cradling the black bag that had been thrown into the car. “I'm Miguel.”</p><p>“Eli,” the kid replied.</p><p>“Is he always like this?” Miguel asked, nodding his head to the kid's companion.</p><p>“Is <em>he</em> always like this?” Eli asked, nodding towards Johnny.</p><p>“Pretty much, yeah,” Miguel replied with a smile.</p><p>“Daniel has been really good to me,” Eli said. “I'd be dead without him.”</p><p>“I know what you mean,” Miguel said. “I'd be dead without my Sensei too.”</p><p>“Your what?” </p><p>“My Sensei. Johnny is teaching me to be a member of Cobra Kai.”</p><p>“He's what?” Daniel asked, turning to the back seat, then he looked back at Johnny. “<em>Why</em> is that kid wearing a Cobra Kai jacket?”</p><p>“Because I brought Cobra Kai back,” Johnny said proudly.</p><p>“I hope you're not teaching him the same <em>No Mercy</em> bullshit that Kreese taught you.”</p><p>“We're an elite zombie fighting squad,” Miguel said indignantly from the back seat.</p><p>“Look, kid, I don't know <em>what</em> he's told you, but Cobra Kai was just a karate dojo for <em>children</em>. You shouldn't listen to him. He's full of shit and he's going to get you killed.”</p><p>“Do you want dumping on the street?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“Was it you who painted a dick on my billboard?” Daniel asked. </p><p>Johnny let out a cackling laugh. “Man, if I'd known you were alive I'd have sprayed a dick on every single one of them.” </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
They travelled in silence for a while, winding their way down Mulholland Drive until they came to a white church perched on a hillside.</p><p>“It's going to be dark soon,” Johnny said. “We should park here for the night.”</p><p>“Is that wise?” Daniel asked. </p><p>“Gotta sleep somewhere,” Johnny replied. “Me and Miguel can check it for zombies.” </p><p>“Are you honestly taking a <em>kid</em> into a situation like this?” Daniel asked, as Johnny and Miguel got out of the car.</p><p>“Well yeah, we're an elite zombie fighting squad,” Johnny said with a wink, leaning up against the car door.</p><p>“Get back in the car,” Daniel said to Miguel. “It's our job to look after the kids here, Johnny. We're the adults, or at least <em>I</em> am, so I'm coming with you.”</p><p> </p><p><br/>
30 minutes later Johnny and Mr LaRusso came out of the church, and high fived, which made Miguel and Eli look at each other in disbelief.</p><p>“Come on, kids,” Johnny said. “Grab your stuff. It's safe now.”</p><p>They walked through the extravagant church, carefully blocking the front door behind them with a cabinet, and went to explore. </p><p>In the office they found a couch, which Daniel suggested that Miguel and Eli should sleep on, while he and Johnny slept on the floor.</p><p>“<em>Awesome</em>,” Johnny said sarcastically, spinning in an office chair, drinking a bottle of beer. “You'd think at your age you'd be wary of sleeping on the floor. You'll probably put your back out.”</p><p>“We're the <em>same</em> age,” Daniel said tersely.</p><p>“What year were you born?”</p><p>“1966,” Daniel replied.</p><p>“<em>Ha!</em>” Johnny laughed. “'67.”</p><p>“It's a few months, big deal!” Daniel said, as Johnny leaned back in the chair with a self satisfied grin on his face. “Whatever, come on, we need to look in the café and see what food's left.”</p><p> </p><p><br/>
“The hell is this?” Johnny asked, as he picked up a jar of brown liquid with something slimy floating in it, then shook it at Miguel, and screwed up his face in over the top mock disgust, which made Miguel snort with laughter.</p><p>“It's Kombucha tea,” Daniel replied. “Put it down.”</p><p>Johnny lifted up the glass bowl that covered some mouldy muffins, and grimaced as he put it back down. “There's nothing here.”</p><p>“I found a few bags of organic sweet potato chips,” Daniel replied.</p><p>“I've got Chamomile tea bags,” Miguel said, holding up a box.</p><p>“I think I'll pass,” Johnny said, rolling his eyes.</p><p>They carried on exploring the rooms of the huge building, then in a side room they found a cabinet.</p><p>“Well, holy shit,” Johnny said, as he opened the doors.</p><p>“Oh my <em>god</em>,” Daniel said, getting his knees and pulling out a can of hot dogs. “Why is this here?”</p><p>“Food drive maybe?” Miguel suggested.</p><p>“We're gonna need some bags to carry all this,” Daniel said, as he started to pull the piles of canned food out, and passed them to Eli.</p><p> </p><p>After they'd eaten they walked out onto the patio area behind the church that had no doubt been more used to seeing outdoor worship, and high society wedding receptions, and looked out over the balcony. The view of the valley was spectacular, even though half the lights were out, and somewhere in the distance a fire was burning out of control in the valley, sending plumes of smoke into the air.</p><p>They settled in, sitting on some comfy chairs that faced the railings, making the most of the view, as the last colour from the sunset drained out of the sky.</p><p>“Here you go,” Johnny said, as he handed a beer to Eli, and one to Miguel. </p><p>“You can't give children alcohol!” Daniel exclaimed.</p><p>“It's water.”  </p><p>“It's Bud Light!” Daniel shouted. </p><p>“Same thing,” Johnny said with a shrug, as he slumped into a chair. </p><p>“I give up,” Daniel replied, grabbing himself a beer.</p><p>They sat in silence for a while, then Daniel turned to Johnny. “Is that the jacket you used to wear in high school?” </p><p>“Yep.”</p><p>“I'm surprised it still fits you.” </p><p>“A starvation diet has done wonders for your figure too, princess ,” Johnny replied, with a grin. He took a drink from his beer, then asked, “Where have you been living for the last 3 months? In the dealership?”</p><p>“We had a flat tyre, so went to get a replacement, but we got attacked, and we'd been stuck in the dealership for two days before you came along.” Daniel said. “I have a house in Encino, so we'd been living there before that.”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, us too. A big white mansion,” Johnny said. “It has fences all round it so it's been pretty safe.” </p><p>“Wait, its not the one on Valley Meadow Road, is it?” </p><p>“That's the one.” </p><p>“The one with the big piles of corpses around it?” Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“Yup,” Johnny said proudly. </p><p>“We avoided that place like the plague.” </p><p>“Probably a good idea,” Johnny said. “A few weeks ago I would have shot you before I even checked whether you had a pulse.” </p><p>Miguel was puzzled for a second. “I thought you didn't believe in using guns, Sensei?” </p><p>“For him I'd have made an exception,” Johnny said with a sly grin, and even Daniel let out a small chuckle.</p><p>“How come you left?” Daniel asked. “It looked safer than most.”</p><p>“There's no food left in Encino,” Johnny replied. </p><p>“That's not true. Eli and I found a stash of freeze dried kale just two days ago.” </p><p>“Exactly,” Johnny nodded. “There's no <em>food</em> left in Encino.”</p><p>Daniel shook his head, looking up at the sky.</p><p>“Hey, kid, that's a cool scar,” Johnny said, looking at Eli. “Did you get that fighting a zombie?”</p><p>“<em>Uh</em>, yeah...” Eli replied, quietly. </p><p>“Awesome,” Johnny replied. “Do you wanna to join Cobra Kai?”</p><p>Eli went to answer, but Daniel got there first, “<em>NO</em>, he doesn't!”</p><p>“Look, I know you think Cobra Kai is bad,” Johnny said, as he stood up, zipped his jacket, and started pulling on his leather gloves as he walked towards the railing. “But this is <em>my</em> Cobra Kai and it's different.”</p><p>“In the few <em>hours</em> we've been with you I've seen you give alcohol to minors, and you tried to take a kid to fight zombies,” Daniel pointed out.</p><p>“I'm just teaching them to take care of themselves,” Johnny said as a zombie appeared, climbing up the railings. As Daniel, Eli, and Miguel raised their hands to warn him, Johnny grabbed it by the hair, then rammed his beer bottle through it's eye socket. As the zombie dropped from the railings he turned back to Daniel. “It's a valuable skill set.”</p><p>“I wanna learn how to do <em>that</em>,” Eli said, pointing.</p><p>“See, kids got sense,” Johnny said as he pulled off his gloves, grabbed another beer and slumped back into his chair.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
Miguel half expected to wake up the next morning and find that Johnny and Mr LaRusso had killed each other during the night, but instead he found them huddled in the corner of the room, wrapped in a single blanket, looking at a phone. </p><p>“Hey Diaz, come see this,” Johnny waving him over.</p><p>Miguel looked at the video on Mr LaRusso's phone. The quality wasn't great, but he still couldn't believe what he was looking at.</p><p>“Is that <em>you?</em>” Miguel exclaimed. “Eli, come look at this!”</p><p>“I've seen it,” Eli replied disinterestedly. “Many, <em>many</em> times.”</p><p>“You showed him this video of me?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“It's a video of <em>me</em> that you just happen to be in,” Daniel replied.</p><p>“Wow, you're obsessed with me, huh?”</p><p>“You literally climbed 30 feet into the <em>air</em> to paint a dick on my face. Who's obsessed now?”</p><p>“<em>Whatever</em>. Yours is worse,” Johnny said. “Oh wait, watch this, I totally pop LaRusso in the face here. BOOM!”</p><p>“Whoa<em>aaa!</em>” Miguel said. “How old were you here?” </p><p>“What, like, 17?” Johnny said, and Daniel nodded.</p><p>“Watch this part,” Daniel said, pointing to his younger self, standing on one leg with his hands in the air.</p><p>“Wow!” Miguel said, as in the video Johnny took a vicious kick to the face. “Was that even allowed?” </p><p>“Yes,” Daniel said. “No,” Johnny said, speaking over each other. </p><p>They both smiled, then as he tried to stop the video Daniel's finger slipped, and he moved along to a photo instead.</p><p>It was a photo of a family. Mr LaRusso, his wife and his kids, Miguel assumed. They looked happy.</p><p>Daniel put his hand over his mouth, then powered off the phone.</p><p>Johnny looked at him. “Sorry, man.”</p><p>“We've all lost people,” Daniel replied, then he let out a slow breath. “You?”</p><p>Johnny opened his jacket and took out the envelope. He pulled out the photo of the boy with a soccer ball, and handed it to Daniel.</p><p>“Son?” Daniel asked.</p><p>To Miguel's surprise Johnny nodded, then softly said, “He'd be older now, but this is the only photo I have.”</p><p>“He looks like a good kid,” Daniel said, offering the photo back.</p><p>“I don't know where he was when it happened,” Johnny said putting the photo away. “I... I wasn't really in his life much.”</p><p>“I'm sorry, Johnny,” Daniel said quietly.</p><p>“He's a smart kid. He'll be out there somewhere.” </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
Late morning they packed all the canned goods into the trunk of the car, after Mr LaRusso and Johnny had argued about where to put them.</p><p>“We can put the cans in the trailer,” Daniel said, as he dropped a box next to it. </p><p>“Trailer's full, man,” Johnny said, as he opened the trunk of the black car. </p><p>“Full of what?” Daniel asked, and when Johnny didn't answer he moved closer. “What's in the trailer, Johnny?” </p><p>“Alcohol,” Johnny said quietly.</p><p>“You're telling me that big trailer, that's designed for people who are moving house, is full of beer?” </p><p>“I'm not going on a road trip without beer,” Johnny said, as he cleared some space in the trunk for the food. </p><p>“What <em>else</em> is in there?” Daniel asked, moving closer. </p><p>“Gas cans,” Johnny admitted with a slight grimace. </p><p>“Gas cans?” Daniel asked. “How many?” </p><p>“A <em>lot</em> of gas cans,” Johnny said. </p><p>“So we're basically driving around towing a potential fire bomb behind us?” </p><p>“It's not like I can pull up at a gas station and ask them to fill her up,” Johnny said. “That's why it's in the trailer. I figured if it went up we'd at least have a little protection.” </p><p>“If it's as much gas as you say I doubt it'll do much good if anything happened,” Daniel said.</p><p>“Well, we'll be careful,” Johnny said. </p><p>“No more drunk driving!” Daniel said sternly. </p><p>“OK, <em>OK</em>...” Johnny said, then he asked, “I can have one, though, right?”</p><p>As they piled into the car, Daniel said, “Will you at least put your seatbelt on?”</p><p>“No,” Johnny said, shaking his head. “If we get into a car wreck I want my brains smeared all over the dashboard so I can't come back.”</p><p>“<em>What?</em>” Daniel asked. </p><p>“If I ever turn into a zombie I want it to be one of the really cool, badass ones, not one of those sad losers you see stuck in cars because they are too dumb to work the door handle.”</p><p>“How very adult of you,” Daniel said, glaring at Johnny with a look of disapproval. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Miguel had been relegated to the back seat, but he didn't mind as it gave him a chance to talk to Eli. He wasn't quite sure what to make of him at first. Eli was quiet and shy, but once they'd actually started talking he'd opened up little by little. Miguel was relieved to have someone his own age to speak to, and <em>finally</em> someone who not only knew what Instagram actually was, but missed it just as much as he did. </p><p>“Oh, I <em>love</em> this song,” Daniel said from the front seat, as Simply Red came on.</p><p>“Diaz, back in the front,” Johnny shouted. “LaRusso can't be trusted with the music.”</p><p>Miguel laughed at the sour look Daniel fixed Johnny with as he pressed skip on the CD player.</p><p>“Do you think he'd teach me how to kill zombies?” Eli asked quietly, nodding at Johnny.</p><p>“He taught me, so I don't see why not.”</p><p>Eli shifted in his seat, then whispered, “I lied about how I got my scar. It wasn't from a zombie.”</p><p>“It doesn't matter to me how you got it,” Miguel whispered back, smiling. “He doesn't have to know that though.”</p><p>Eli smiled back at him, then a new song came on the stereo, and both men in the front seats started cheering.</p><p>“What is it?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“Did you know you can play music from phones in cars?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“Well, <em>yeah</em>...”</p><p>“LaRusso has a ton of awesome songs on his phone. A lot of shit ones too, but yeah,” Johnny said, then as piano chords started playing, he shouted, “You like Speedwagon?”</p><p>“What kind of man doesn't?” Daniel asked.</p><p>They both started singing in out of tune falsetto. “<em>I can't fight this feeling any longer, and yet, I'm still afraid to let it flow</em>.” </p><p>They sang along, harmonising in all the wrong places, then Johnny shouted to the back seat, “You know this song?”</p><p>Eli and Miguel shook their heads.</p><p>“Well, get ready,” Johnny said, “'cause here comes the chorus, and it is awesome!”</p><p>“<em>And I can't fight this feeling anymore, I've forgotten what I started fighting for!</em>” They sang at the top of their voices, although to Miguel's ears it was more like a cat having it's tail stepped on, “<em>It's time to bring this ship into the shore, And throw away the oars, forever.</em>”</p><p> </p><p><br/>
They were driving down a boulevard next to the 405.  Johnny was nodding his head to the music, one wrist on the steering wheel, then without warning he pitched his beer bottle out of the open window and threw the car into a sudden turn onto a side road.</p><p>“What the hell are you doing?” Daniel shouted.</p><p>“Country club!” Johnny shouted. “You know what that means?”</p><p>“You want to play golf?” Daniel asked.</p><p>“Showers!” Johnny said. “<em>Hot showers</em>, club rooms, a restaurant, a <em>BAR!</em>”</p><p>“You're seriously pulling off the road for a shower?” Daniel asked.</p><p>“It's been two days for me,” Johnny said, then he sniffed. “When did you last have a shower?”</p><p>“OK, shut up,” Daniel said indignantly, as they slowly drove along the road.</p><p>The drive was long, surrounded by open flat golf courses and grasslands.</p><p>“This looks cool,” Johnny said, as they slowly drove up to the club house. “Nothing will be able to sneak up on us from the valley here. You'd see it a mile out.”</p><p>“I'm more worried about what's inside,” Daniel said.</p><p>“Easy way to test that,” Johnny said, as he pulled the car to halt outside the entrance, then leant on the horn.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Daniel shouted, as Johnny kept blaring the horn. “You're going to bring them right to us.”</p><p>“That's the point,” Johnny said, as he opened his car door and got out. </p><p>A single walker staggered round the corner, moaning loudly, and Daniel said, “Get back in the car now!”</p><p>“Why?” Johnny asked, closing the car door behind him. “It's just the one.”</p><p>Daniel waved his hand to the back seat, and Eli pulled a handgun out of the black bag, handed it to him, and Daniel cocked the gun.</p><p>Johnny rolled his eyes, and said, “Put that away, moron. We don't kill zombies with guns. It attracts too many at once.”</p><p>“Like leaning on the car horn <em>doesn't</em>,” Daniel said, rolling his eyes.</p><p>“Sound of a gunshot travels a hell of a lot further than a car horn, but if you want double the number of zombies we have to fight then go ahead and be my guest.”</p><p>“OK, <em>OK</em>,” Daniel said, as he put the gun in the glove compartment.</p><p>Johnny took off across the parking lot, and Eli said, “I have a bad feeling about this.”</p><p>“It's only one. He can handle it,” Miguel said confidently, as Johnny casually walked up to the zombie, and kicked it under the chin, sending it's head flying across the lawn.</p><p>“Fore!” Johnny shouted, as the zombie collapsed in a heap.</p><p>“Very funny,” Daniel shouted. “Now stop showing off and get back over here.”</p><p>Johnny stopped, and turned his head. “Shit!”</p><p>“What's wrong?” Daniel asked, then Johnny took off at a run, and a group of walkers staggered round the corner.</p><p>“Oh for god's sake,” Daniel said, as he opened his car door. “You two stay there.”</p><p>“I can help”, Miguel shouted after him. Then as Daniel ran after Johnny, he turned to Eli and asked, “Why won't he let me help?”</p><p>“You're a <em>kid</em>,” Eli said.</p><p>“I can handle myself,” Miguel grumbled.</p><p>Johnny came flying back round the corner, closely followed by Daniel. Johnny pointed, to his left, and shouted “Split them!”</p><p>Daniel ran left, and Johnny ran right, and the zombies peeled off in different directions, in two smaller groups.</p><p>Johnny sprinted across the parking lot, and kicked an abandoned golf bag, he picked up two clubs, then ran back towards Daniel, and threw him one of the sticks.</p><p>As the Zombies shuffled towards them they raised the clubs, then began smashing them into the zombie's heads, until they lay, a heap of unmoving corpses on the ground.</p><p>Miguel got out of the car, followed by Eli, and they walked over to where the two men stood.</p><p>“Man, that takes me back,” Johnny said, as he ground his heel into a zombie skull, making sure it was well and truly dead.</p><p>“You used to play golf?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“Almost every Friday night, yeah,” Johnny replied.</p><p>“He means Miniature Golf,” Daniel said with a laugh.</p><p>“It's still golf,” Johnny replied with a smile.</p><p>Daniel slapped him on the back like they were old friends, then said, “OK, how are we going to clear out the inside?”</p><p> </p><p><br/>
It turned out that clearing the inside meant blocking all the doors except one, then making as much noise as possible until it attracted a zombie. Miguel would hide behind the open door, and then close it as soon as the walker had shambled far enough into the parking lot for Johnny to smash its skull open, then Daniel and Eli would drag its corpse out of the way. </p><p>It took an hour to attract all the loose zombies to the kill zone, and after that they entered the club, and Daniel said, “We need to sweep each room. Make sure we haven't missed any.”</p><p>“This place has CCTV,” Eli said, pointing up at the camera above their heads. “Why not use that to check where they are?”</p><p>“Eli, you are a genius!” Daniel said.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When they located the security office they checked the CCTV on every room, writing down which doors were locked, which were open, and the location of every zombie visible on camera. They found a set of two way radios, and took one each, using them to coordinate their attacks. Once the building was clear of the undead, they checked all the exits were securely locked, and went to explore their new surroundings.</p><p>“A bar! A bar!” Johnny shouted, as he walked into the clubroom. He ran behind the counter, opened a can, downed most of it in one long drain, then started scouring the fridges. “Come on.... <em>dammit!</em>”</p><p>“You looking for something in particular?” Daniel asked.</p><p>“I want a Coors Banquet,” he replied.</p><p>“Do they still make that?” Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“<em>Yeah</em>,” Johnny said incredulously. “I drink it all the time.”</p><p>“There's plenty of other beer,” Eli said, pointing at the fridge.</p><p>“It's Budweiser,” Miguel said. “It's closer to water than a ducks ass.”</p><p>Daniel looked at Miguel for a second, then turned to Johnny. “Did you teach him that?”</p><p>“You know kids,” Johnny said, still rummaging through the fridge. “They pick stuff up.”</p><p>“Why are you looking for it?” Eli asked.</p><p>“There's a Banquet in a bar somewhere in the valley, and it's not just any bottle of Banquet, it's the <em>last</em> bottle of Coors Banquet that anyone will enjoy in the <em>whole</em> universe,” Johnny said, “and you better believe the person drinking it is gonna be me.”</p><p>“Even if the zombie apocalypse hadn't happened you probably <em>still</em> would have been the last person drinking it,” Daniel said, rolling his eyes. Then he said, “Come on, let's go find some food.”</p><p>“OK,” Johnny said, grabbing a can of Coors light.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“I'm going to cook,” Daniel announced, when they found the freezer at the back of the restaurant, and after testing the ovens and burners still worked.</p><p>“I'd kill for pizza,” Eli said.</p><p>“Oh, yeah, pizza would be amazing,” Miguel agreed.</p><p>Johnny nodded in agreement, then added, “Just don't be putting vegetables on it and shit like that.”</p><p>“Pizza it is,” Daniel said.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
Daniel found flour, and yeast, olive oil, and powdered milk, but no eggs, but it was enough to make a basic pizza dough. At the back of the walk in freezer he found a frozen pan half full of left over tomato sauce that had been stored and forgotten about, which still tasted pretty good when defrosted. Then he found the holy grail – an unopened tub of Mozzarella cheese that was only out of date by a week or so. </p><p>He made pasta from scratch, throwing it in the left over tomato sauce, with a few pinches of spices and some dried herbs that had been at the back of a cupboard, and when Johnny wasn't looking he topped up the pan with a can of ratatouille vegetables from the canned food drive.</p><p>As they tucked into the pizza everyone groaned with delight at how delicious it was, but Daniel noticed one bowl was going untouched.</p><p>“You aren't eating your pasta?” Daniel asked, and Johnny shook his head.</p><p>“It's really good,” Miguel added.</p><p>“I saw him sneak a can of vegetables in there,” Johnny said. “I know he's trying to fool me into eating them.”</p><p>“Come on try it,” Daniel said holding out a fork full of pasta.</p><p>“I don't want it,” Johnny said, turning his head away.</p><p>“Come on just one tiny bite,” Daniel said, holding the fork to his lips.</p><p>“Oh god, if it'll make you stop I'll try it,” Johnny said. He opened his mouth and Daniel fed him the pasta. He chewed quietly.</p><p>“Well?” Daniel asked.</p><p>“Shut <em>up</em>, you know it tastes great,” Johnny huffed, as he dug into the bowl.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
After they had eaten they went back to the bar. Johnny took the caps off two bottles of coke, then placed them on the table with two glasses, and nodded to Miguel.</p><p>“Thanks, Sensei,” Miguel said, as he tipped them into the glasses, and handed one to Eli.</p><p>Johnny handed Daniel a beer, then walked over to the large windows and looked out over the golf courses and courts.</p><p>“Takes me back, being in a place like this,” Johnny said, over his shoulder. “I mean, if you ignore that zombie caught in a Tennis net over there...”</p><p>“Yeah, Miguel, did you know that Johnny was a regular at a country club?” Daniel said with a grin. “From what I remember he used to do a <em>lot</em> of ballroom dancing.”</p><p>“Shut up, my mother liked it, not me,” Johnny said defensively, as Miguel laughed. “And I seem to remember you visiting once, and wasn't their some incident involving pasta. Why don't you tell them about that?”</p><p>“<em>And</em> that's a memory I'd like to forget,” Daniel said with a laugh.</p><p>“What happened?” Eli asked.</p><p>“Yeah, we wanna know,” Miguel added.</p><p>“You remember that big tub of tomato sauce we had tonight?” Johnny asked, and Miguel nodded. “Well, imagine that all over a white shirt and white trousers, and someone flailing in a puddle of it on the floor.”</p><p>“What<em>tttt?</em>” Miguel asked with a laugh.</p><p>“Yeah, it's funny,” Daniel said. Then he smirked. “Funny that you remember <em>every</em> detail of what I was wearing that night.”</p><p>Johnny fixed Daniel with a look for a second, then said. “Funniest thing I ever saw, man. Not likely to forget that any time soon.”</p><p>“Yeah, <em>that's</em> what it is,” Daniel replied, still holding his eye contact with Johnny.</p><p>Miguel inadvertently yawned, and Johnny pointed at him. “The kids are tired. It's time for bed.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After an uneventful night, with no zombies attacking in the darkness, they decided to rest up at the club for a few days. The food and alcohol were in plentiful supply, and for now everything was safe enough, so it seemed like a good opportunity to take a break from life on the road.</p><p>There was a Yoga studio with mats and mirrors next to the gym and Miguel and Johnny spent time training, while Eli watched on the side lines.</p><p>Daniel sat in on their training sessions, for lack of something better to do Miguel assumed, but on the second day Daniel turned to Eli, waved a hand and said, “Go on.”</p><p>“<em>Seriously?</em>” Eli asked. “I can train with them?”</p><p>“If it's OK with Sensei Lawrence, it's OK with me,” Daniel replied.</p><p>Johnny smiled at Daniel. “Always room for one more on the mat.” </p><p>As Eli lined up next to Miguel, Johnny said, “The first thing to know about fighting zombies is that in a one-on-one fight, a live human will <em>ALWAYS</em> have superiority over a single zombie.” </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
It was evening and Miguel had just finished taking a shower after a long day of training, when he overheard Daniel and Johnny talking in the corridor outside the locker rooms.</p><p>“You're really good with them,” Daniel said. </p><p>“You surprised?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“I am, yeah,” Daniel replied softly. “I don't want you take that the wrong way.”</p><p>“What other way am I supposed to take it?” Johnny asked. </p><p>“You know I'd never agree with that <em>Strike First</em> bullshit in the normal world, but the world isn't normal anymore. Maybe Cobra Kai makes more sense here.” </p><p>“Guns are for amateurs and pussies,” Johnny said. “The way of the fist is going to keep us alive, and them.” </p><p>“God, you are <em>such</em> a drama queen,” Daniel said with a snickering laugh. “<em>'The way of the fist.'</em> Can you even hear yourself?”</p><p>“Shut <em>up</em>, you know you love it,” Johnny teased back.</p><p>“Maybe I do,” Daniel replied.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
They were in the bar again, after another spectacular meal that Mr LaRusso had prepared, and Miguel couldn't believe that he was in a place like this. If it wasn't for the zombies he'd never have made it past security at the front door, but here he was, sitting on a spacious balcony overlooking the whole valley, watching the smoke from a fire that was burning somewhere in the distance curl up into the darkening sky, and tucking into expensive candy from the vending machine they'd smashed open.</p><p>“You know lots of famous people come to places like this,” Miguel said. “Wouldn't it be cool if we bumped into zombie Justin Timberlake?”</p><p>Eli laughed, and said, “You know who is definitely alive right now?”</p><p>“Who?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“Chris Evans.”</p><p>“<em>Definitely</em> alive,” Miguel agreed. “Chris Hemsworth, also alive. He could punch a zombie to death.”</p><p>“Who are these people?” Johnny asked, looking at Daniel for an answer. </p><p>“OK, let's go old school,” Miguel said, remembering that his Sensei had said he'd never seen a Marvel film. “Arnold Schwarzenegger.” </p><p>“Alive,” Daniel said, and Johnny nodded.</p><p>“Sylvester Stallone,” Eli said.</p><p>“100% alive,” Johnny said, and Daniel nodded.</p><p>“Bill Murray,” Daniel said. </p><p>“Definitely alive, <em>duh</em>,” Johnny said. </p><p>“Robin Williams,” Johnny said, and when everyone looked at him he asked, “What?”</p><p>“He died like four years ago,” Daniel said. “Didn't you know?” </p><p>“Way to ruin the night, LaRusso,” Johnny grumbled. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Late in the evening, after dark had fallen, they heard a scratching sound coming from somewhere on the terrace. Johnny was on his feet immediately, his head turning to try track the sound, then he let out a shriek as a Raccoon trotted across the balcony.</p><p>“<em>Wow</em>,” Daniel said sarcastically. “You're my hero, Johnny Lawrence. You saved us all.”</p><p>“It could have been a zombie,” Johnny snapped back.</p><p>“Yeah, I'm sure the zombie would have been impressed by your girly scream,” Daniel said, then he ducked, laughing as Johnny sprinted over to him and started poking him in the ribs.</p><p>“Oh yeah, you like that, huh?” Johnny said, as Daniel screamed when his fingers found a ticklish spot. “Who's the girl now, huh? <em>Huh?</em>”</p><p>“Time out! Time Out!” Daniel shouted, breathlessly. </p><p>“Yeah, I'm only stopping cos every zombie in the valley can probably hear your high pitched screaming like a dog whistle,” he said with a smile as he grabbed a beer.</p><p>The Raccoon came out of it's hiding place, sniffing the air around them, seemingly unfazed by their presence. Johnny reached for a pack of marshmallows, and threw one to the curious creature. It came closer, reaching out with its tiny hands, and took the marshmallow, then scampered to safety.</p><p>Every time it finished the treat it moved closer again, holding out its paws, as if asking for more, and Johnny tossed it another.</p><p>“Don't you think the Raccoon has had enough?” Daniel asked. “You should be eating those instead of wasting them.”</p><p>Johnny looked up at him. “How am I wasting them?” </p><p>“We barely have enough food for <em>us</em> most of the time and you're feeding it to the wildlife,” Daniel said. “I'd call that wasting it.” </p><p>“But it's making me happy, so it's not a waste,” Johnny said. </p><p>“You're sat there in a jacket that you used to wear 34 years ago when you were <em>seventeen</em>,” Daniel said. “I think that alone should tell you that you need the marshmallows more than the Raccoon does.”</p><p>“Yeah, but if I give the marshmallow to the Raccoon, and seeing it eat it makes me happy, and I need <em>that</em> more than I need the marshmallow,” Johnny said, then he threw the packet on the table, and fixed Daniel with a look, as he continued, “And if the last three months have taught me anything it's that you have to take any chance  for happiness, no matter how small because you never know when everything will go to shit and you'll end up dead, or even worse the only one left <em>alive</em>.” </p><p>They stared at each other, then Daniel cleared his throat, and said, “Can I see you private for a second?”</p><p>“OK,” Johnny said. He stood up, then turned back to Miguel holding up his radio. “If anything happens, call immediately, OK?” </p><p>Miguel nodded, as they disappeared of down the side of the balcony and out into the tree line, he turned to Eli. “Wonder what that was about?”</p><p> </p><p><br/>
Eli and Miguel headed inside after the night air turned chilly, sitting in the bar sharing the remains of the disputed marshmallows.</p><p>“How long have they been gone?” Miguel asked, looking at his phone. “I hope they're OK.”</p><p>“I'm sure they're fine,” Eli said, taking another marshmallow.</p><p>There was voices and laughter in the corridor, and Johnny and Daniel walked back into the room, both looking pink cheeked, and a bit dishevelled. </p><p>“Was there a fight?” Miguel asked, as Johnny grabbed a beer, and sat down next to him.</p><p>“No, why?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“You both have mud on you,” Miguel pointed out, then he reached up into Johnny's hair and pulled out a small twig. “What were you doing?”</p><p>“Sparring,” they both said, at the same time, almost as if it had been rehearsed. </p><p>“Cool, can I watch next time?” Miguel asked, and Eli elbowed him in the ribs.</p><p>Johnny and Daniel both laughed, then Daniel got up. “I'm just going to go clean up.”</p><p>Johnny watched him walk towards the door, a strange smile on his face, and Miguel asked, “Is everything OK, sensei?”</p><p>Johnny kept smiling, watching as Daniel left the room, then said, “Yeah. It is now.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>(I decided to change the Speedwagon song that they sing bond over because the 80s station I listen to at works plays <i>I can't fight this feeling anymore</i> almost every day and it makes me think of these two idiots every time I hear it :-P</p><p>Also I know the ages and birthdates on google are wrong, and Johnny is actually older than Daniel, but I just couldn't resist Johnny being all smug over being the younger one lol )</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Miguel couldn't understand what was happening between his sensei and Mr LaRusso.  They spent half the day bickering and shouting at each other, then the nights sat together laughing at each other's lame jokes. </p><p>It seemed that when it came to Mr LaRusso, Johnny had no concept of personal space. If they walked next to each other it was always shoulder to shoulder, so that their hands could touch with little effort. If they both sat down, it was always so close that their thighs would be brushing up against each other, and eventually Miguel realised that the bouts of name calling were almost like they were sparring. There was no real winner or loser, just a stream of attacking and defending, with occasional breaks to sing along to 80s tracks on the CD player.</p><p>For all the arguing and snide comments, when it came to fighting zombies together it looked like they'd been doing it for a lifetime. It seemed like they could always anticipate what the other was going to do before it happened, and they flowed together so seamlessly in the fight that Miguel would have thought that they'd been training together for years to do this, if he didn't know better.</p><p>They'd left the Country Club early that morning, and within five minutes of being on the road an argument had broken out over something inconsequential, as usual. </p><p>“We need to get you two some gloves and leather jackets,” Johnny said from the passenger seat, after allowing Daniel to drive for once. </p><p>“Absolutely not,” Daniel exclaimed. “We're <em>not</em> joining Cobra Kai. We can train together yes, but me and Eli are Miyagi-Do.” </p><p>“It's for protection, you moron,” Johnny shouted back. “Zombies can't bite through them.” </p><p>“They can't?” </p><p>“Nah. They can give you a hell of a bruise, but their teeth can't break through the leather so no infection.” </p><p>“That's actually... really smart,” Daniel replied. </p><p>“Don't sound too shocked, LaRusso,” Johnny said, narrowing his eyes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They were on North Sepulveda, still crawling their way alongside the 405, when Daniel slowed the car to a halt.</p><p>“Look what's there,” Daniel said, looking up at the hillside.</p><p>“What?” Johnny asked, looking around.</p><p>“It's the Getty.”</p><p>“It's a museum,” Johnny said dryly, then he asked, “You wanna go?”</p><p>“Have we got time?”</p><p>“Pretty sure that's <em>all</em> we've got,” Johnny replied.</p><p> </p><p><br/>When they pulled up outside the main entrance the doors were closed, and there were no signs of life, or death, in the grounds.</p><p>“No walkers,” Daniel said, as they drove around the complex.</p><p>“Maybe it was closed when it all started,” Johnny said.</p><p>“It's possible,” Daniel replied. “Is it really worth the risk?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Johnny replied. “I think it is.”</p><p> </p><p><br/>Johnny took a hammer and a blanket from the car, and handed them to Miguel. “Follow me.”</p><p>They all walked to the too quiet entrance of the museum, and Johnny took the blanket and held it against a panel of glass at the bottom of the door. “Hold that there.”</p><p>“You aren't going to hit me, are you?” Miguel asked jokingly, as Johnny took hold of the hammer and drew back his arm.</p><p>“Don't move, OK,” Johnny said, then he turned to Daniel. “We've got no idea what's inside, so you ready for this?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Daniel replied, bouncing on his feet.</p><p>Johnny smashed the hammer down onto the blanket, shattering the window while muffling the worst of the sound. They waited, listening for the signs of the undead, but there was only silence.</p><p>Johnny climbed in through the broken window, then stood, listening. “Seems OK.”</p><p>Daniel followed him, then he beckoned Miguel and Eli through. “Stay between us.”</p><p>They walked through the entrance hall, keeping as quiet as possible in the cavernous, echoing space, then turned left into a gallery, closing the door quietly behind them.</p><p>“Think it's empty?” Eli asked.</p><p>“Only one way to find out,” Johnny said, then he smacked the hammer down onto the floor with a crack that echoed through the gallery, and something cried out in response.</p><p>“Shit,” Daniel said. “We should go.”</p><p>“Only sounds like one,” Johnny said, raising one eyebrow. “We can handle one no problem.”</p><p>“OK,” Daniel whispered back.</p><p>Then Johnny shouted, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!”</p><p>The creature cried out again, closer this time, then the security guard rounded the corner, still in uniform with his radio dangling on one crooked finger, as he stumbled towards them.</p><p>“Eli,” Johnny said, holding the hammer in his gloved hand. “Tell me how we kill it.”</p><p>“It's old,” Eli said. “Break it's legs then stamp on its skull.”</p><p>“That's right,” Johnny said as he walked towards it. He dropped to the ground, swinging his arm, driving the hammer into its legs. The creature fell, as Johnny flipped himself back to his feet, then he grabbed a sculpture that was sitting on a pedestal and drove it into the zombie's skull.</p><p>“That was <em>amazing!</em>” Miguel said.</p><p>“<em>So</em> cool,” Eli agreed.</p><p>“I can't believe you touched an exhibit,” Daniel said. “It says right here on the pedestal <em>'Do not touch'</em>.”</p><p>“Pretty sure the guard's not going to tell me off,” Johnny said, waving his hand toward the dead zombie.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>“I always loved visiting here, but it was always so crowded every time we came,” Daniel said as they walked through the gallery, briefly pausing in front of each piece of art before moving on. “You could never really take too long because there was always someone waiting behind you.”</p><p>“So why are we rushing?” Johnny asked. “Take your time. Enjoy it. We can find a place to sleep if we need to.”</p><p>“Not exactly your kinda place though, is it?” Daniel asked. </p><p>Johnny stepped closer to him and said, “Well, why don't you show me why it's your kinda place?”</p><p>Daniel smiled at him. “OK.”</p><p> </p><p><br/>They took their time, walking round the gallery, standing in front of each painting and sculpture, as Mr LaRusso read out the card next to each one. Miguel thought he might be bored when they first went into the museum, but hearing Daniel speak with such passion about each piece made him realise just how important this place was.</p><p>They paused in front of a manuscript illumination. Three dead bodies on the ground, and a zombie-like figure standing over them holding a scythe as a young woman knelt reading.</p><p>“What's this?” Johnny asked, inspecting it closely.</p><p>“The girl in the picture is the girl who received the book,” Daniel said.</p><p>“So someone gave her a book as a present, that basically had a picture of her <em>own</em> death in it?” Johnny asked. “Man, that's sick.”</p><p>“People died young in the middle ages, and it didn't matter if you were rich or poor,” Daniel said. “It was given to her as a reminder of her own mortality.”</p><p>“Why would people need to be reminded of that?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“So they know to make the most of the time they have left,” Daniel answered.</p><p>“OK, that's cool,” Johnny said, as he stood looking at the picture for a while longer.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The wandered round the North Pavilion without any zombies interfering in their afternoon, then Daniel elbowed Johnny in the ribs, and said “Come on, you'll like this.”</p><p>They walked into the family room, and with a smile Daniel threw a cape at Johnny's head. “Let's dress up.”</p><p>They played with the fake costumes, laughing and fighting each other with plastic swords, and dressing up as medieval kings and princesses until they realised the light had faded from the sky outside, and they needed a safe place to sleep.</p><p>They found a storage room just off the family area, and dragged all the costumes and blankets they could find into a pile into the centre of the room, and then settled down for the night.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When Miguel woke the next morning he was slightly surprised to find Johnny wrapped around Mr LaRusso, under a huge pile of faux fur coats and blankets, but he figured they were just sharing body heat as the room had been cold during the night.</p><p>Mr LaRusso had woken shortly after Miguel, and crawled out from the cocoon of blankets, then gently placed them back over Johnny as he stretched his back.</p><p>“I don't wanna get up<em>pppp</em>,” Johnny moaned petulantly from his bundle of blankets and costumes. “Just let me sleep a bit longer.”</p><p>“Up!” Daniel replied. “I can hear your stomach rumbling from here. You need to eat something.”  </p><p>“You could bring me breakfast in bed,” Johnny said with a knowing wink.</p><p>“You are totally the worst,” Daniel said, rolling his eyes.</p><p>“Yeah, <em>yeah</em>,” Johnny replied with a cocky grin.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As they drove further towards <em>wherever</em> they were going the houses became more frequent and closer together, and so did the zombies, as they headed towards what had once been a more populated area of the city.</p><p>“Hey, look,” Daniel said, pulling the car to a crawl.</p><p>Johnny looked out the window, then back at Daniel, then they both turned to the back seat.</p><p>“We're just gonna go look for supplies for a minute, OK?” Johnny said. “Keep your radios on, and stay in the car.”</p><p>“OK,” Eli said.</p><p>“I wonder what they're going for,” Miguel said, as he watched Mr LaRusso and his Sensei walk into the CVS pharmacy, feeling a little disgruntled that he hadn't been invited to join the raiding party.</p><p>“Probably sex stuff,” Eli replied, looking out the window.</p><p>“<em>Huh?</em>” Miguel asked.</p><p>“Sex with two guys needs preparation, lubricants, other stuff,” Eli replied. </p><p>“First of all, <em>what?</em>” Miguel asked. “And secondly, how do you even <em>know</em> this stuff?” </p><p>“I used to read a lot of <em>Doctor Who</em> fanfiction,” Eli replied, then he turned to Miguel and noticed the look of confusion on his face. “Some of them have really amazing plots, but yeah, a <em>lot</em> of them have tons of sex stuff.” </p><p>“What does any of this have to do with Johnny and Mr LaRusso?”</p><p>“<em>Oh</em>, you haven't noticed, have you?” </p><p>“Noticed what?”</p><p>“They are <em>totally</em> hooking up,” Eli said.</p><p>“What?” Miguel asked. “Mr LaRusso? And Johnny?”</p><p>“Hooking up,” Eli nodded, as a zombie came flying out through the plate glass window of the drugstore.</p><p>“But they both had kids, and Mr LaRusso had a wife,” Miguel said, as Johnny jumped through the gaping hole in the front of the store and smashed the Zombie in the head with a Crutch.</p><p>“They could be bisexual,” Eli said, as Johnny threw the crutch back through the window to Daniel.</p><p>“So you think <em>both</em> of them just happen to be bisexual?” Miguel asked as Johnny jumped through the window back into the store. “Don't you think that would be a bit of a coincidence?”</p><p>“Just watch them,” he shrugged. “You really can't miss it.”</p><p>Johnny and Daniel exited the drugstore with a white paper bag, then got back in the car.</p><p>“What did you get?” Eli asked, then he elbowed Miguel in the ribs.</p><p>They looked at each other furtively, then, as if they'd rehearsed the answer inside the shop, both replied, “Antibiotics.”</p><p>Miguel looked at Eli, and mouthed, “<em>No way!</em>”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After raiding a couple of clothing stores in Brentwood, they finally found motorcycle gloves and some leather jackets that fit both Daniel and Eli in an abandoned Nordstrom, and they were heading out of the residential area, when they went down a dead end street, and came across the back entrance of another country club.</p><p>They peered through the gate, and inside was a house, three storeys high, with a garage on the ground floor, and the entire building was fully circled by chain link fence.</p><p>“What do you think?” Daniel asked.</p><p>“Grounds keeper's house maybe?” Johnny said. “Worth a look.”</p><p> </p><p>Johnny and Daniel climbed the fence, then went into the house, and quickly came back with the keys for the padlock that locked the gate.</p><p>With the car and trailer pulled inside, and the gate safely locked behind them, Johnny picked up a wrench that was lying discarded near the door then headed up the narrow stairs to the living accommodation, and quickly came back down. “It's all clear, and wait till you see this place!”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“There's only two bedrooms,” Johnny said to Miguel, as he walked through the house, “But the kids room has two beds, so you guys can take that.”</p><p>“What about you?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“I'll have to share with LaRusso, I guess,” Johnny replied, then he wrapped an arm around Miguel and pulled him in. “See the sacrifices I make for you?”</p><p>Daniel laughed, and said, “You better not snore.”</p><p>Miguel was surprised to find that as well as the family bathroom across the landing, the two bedrooms shared access to a toilet that was build between the two rooms, with a door leading off each side. </p><p>“How is this gonna work?” Miguel asked, looking at the two doors.</p><p>“We'll keep our side locked, and we'll use the other bathroom,” Johnny said. “You don't wanna be walking in on LaRusso taking a dump in the morning.” </p><p>“You know I can hear you, right?” Daniel shouted from the bedroom, and Johnny winked at Miguel </p><p> </p><p><br/>Eli and Miguel spent a while exploring their new room, checking out the contents of the large closet, and the DVD collection. They were amazed to find a PS4 and stacks of games piled on shelves next to it.</p><p>“This place is <em>so</em> cool” Miguel said, when they ran back down to the kitchen.</p><p>“Can we stay here a few days?” Eli asked.</p><p>“Have you seen these cupboards?” Daniel asked, as he opened each door. “We'll have to throw out anything that was fresh, but whoever lived here must have been shopping just before it happened. I'm amazed it hasn't been cleaned out.”</p><p>Johnny walked into the kitchen and placed a bottle of Whiskey on the kitchen table, then sat down heavily in one of the wooden chairs.</p><p>“Don't you think it's a little early for that?” Daniel asked.</p><p>Johnny shook his head, opened the bottle and took a drink, then let his chin fall to his chest.</p><p>“Sensei, what's wrong?” Miguel asked.</p><p>Johnny didn't look up. He took another drink, then said, “Don't go in the garage.”</p><p>“Zombies?” Eli asked, and Johnny shook his head.</p><p>“What is it?” Daniel asked worriedly. “What's down there?”</p><p>“The whole family,” he replied.</p><p>“Dead?” Daniel asked.</p><p>Johnny took another long drink from the bottle and nodded. “Looks like the guy who lived here killed them, then blew his own brains out.”</p><p>“<em>What?</em>” Daniel asked, as he pulled out a chair and sat down.</p><p>“Who could do <em>that?</em>” Johnny asked, angrily. “Who could do <em>that</em> to their own kids?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>Miguel knew that when Johnny started drinking anything other than beer it usually ended with him outside screaming for the local zombies to come get him, but somehow Mr LaRusso had taken him to another room, and calmed him down.</p><p>They had eaten in near silence, then retired to their rooms, but the idea of playing with the games that had once belonged to someone who was currently dead in the garage seemed wrong, so instead Miguel lay on the bed watching a plastic plane that hung from the ceiling on thin wire spin, illuminated by the moon.</p><p>He thought back over the day, to the trip to the pharmacy. Maybe they really <em>had</em> gone for antibiotics. They would come in useful if any of them got sick. That had to be it. Eli had to be wrong, and Mr LaRusso and Johnny were just old friends who had reconnected after years apart.</p><p>“I don't believe they're doing it,” Miguel said, turning over on his bed. “We must have got it wrong.”</p><p>“Did you wake up last night?” Eli asked, and Miguel shook his head. “They left at some point, because <em>I</em> woke up in the middle of the night and they weren't there.”</p><p>“Yeah, so?” </p><p>“We're <em>kids</em>, Miguel. They aren't going to leave us alone in a strange place unless it's to do something they <em>really</em> wanna do and <em>really</em> don't want us to see, and what else could that be?” </p><p>“And you think they were, what? Making out in the family room?”</p><p>“Obviously, yeah.”</p><p>“Maybe they heard something and went to check it out?”</p><p>“Nah, they were doing stuff with each other,” Eli said. “It's the classic <em>enemies to lovers</em> trope.”</p><p>“The <em>what?</em>”</p><p>“You never read the <em>TV Tropes</em> website?” Eli asked, and Miguel shook his head. “You're lucky. I wasted days on that site. It's like <em>You've Got Mail</em>, or <em>Beauty and the Beast</em>, or Buffy and Spike. They hate each other at the start, but eventually they fall in love.”</p><p>“You think they're in <em>love?</em>” </p><p>“I'll prove it,” Eli said, as he slid out of bed and over the bathroom door. “Come on.”</p><p>“We can't <em>spy</em> on them,” Miguel hissed.</p><p>“They'll never know.”</p><p>Eli opened the bathroom door on their side as slowly and carefully as he could, then inched his way across the floor till he was next to the door that lead to the other bedroom. He waved to Miguel, and mouthed, <em>“Come on!”</em></p><p>Miguel rolled his eyes then slithered onto the floor, and shuffled his way over to the door.</p><p>Eli held his finger to his lips, then pointed to the door, and placed his ear against it.</p><p>Miguel rested his ear against the door, and heard someone laugh. There were quiet words, and then another laugh.</p><p><em>“How are you feeling?”</em> Daniel asked. <em>“I mean, what we just did was pretty...” </em></p><p><em>“Amazing?”</em> Johnny asked. </p><p><em>“I was going to go with different,”</em> Daniel replied with a soft laugh, <em>“but yeah it was pretty amazing. I was just wondering if you were OK with what we just did.” </em></p><p><em>“I'm OK,”</em> Johnny replied.</p><p><em>“Is that the first time you've been with a guy?”</em> Daniel asked, and Miguel's mouth dropped open. </p><p><em>“Yeah,”</em> Johnny replied.<em> “Not the first time I've thought about it though.” </em></p><p><em>“Now, </em>that's<em> an interesting turn of events. Who was it?” </em></p><p>
  <em>“You, dumb ass.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You used to think about me?” </em>
</p><p><em>“You drove me insane,”</em> Johnny said, <em>“So yeah, I thought about it. Did you ever think of me like that?” </em></p><p><em>“Yeah,”</em> Daniel replied softly. </p><p><em>“I did some really shitty, terrible things to you when we were kids,”</em> Johnny said quietly. <em>“Sometimes I don't know how you can even look at me.”</em></p><p><em>“We're living in a different world,”</em> Daniel replied. <em>“I'd rather think about what we have now, rather than holding onto the past.” </em></p><p>
  <em>“Yeah, but I pushed you off a cliff, man.” </em>
</p><p><em>“It was a hill,”</em> Daniel said softly. There was quiet for a moment, then Daniel asked, <em>“You haven't got any regrets then? About what we just did?”</em></p><p><em>“I regret the fact that we are fucking idiots,”</em> Johnny replied with a huff of laughter. </p><p><em>“What makes you say that?”</em> Daniel asked.</p><p><em>“Instead of us fighting over Ali, it should have been me and Ali fighting over </em>you<em>,”</em> Johnny replied. <em>“We could have been banging each other's brains out since we were seventeen.”</em></p><p>Daniel laughed. <em>“Well, I guess we'll just have to make it up for it now.”</em></p><p><em>“OH MY GOD!”</em> Miguel silently mouthed to Eli, who was looking back at him with a smug grin. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>The next morning Miguel wasn't quite sure where to look. </p><p>He didn't want Mr LaRusso or Johnny to know that they'd been spying on them, but equally he couldn't stop watching the way they were around each other. </p><p>They still called each other names, and complained about each other. Daniel still shot Johnny disapproving looks, and Johnny still smiled at him with that lopsided, cocky grin every time he did. To an outsider it might look like they hated each other, but Eli was right. This was more than just friendship.</p><p>After a good breakfast Johnny turned quiet again, then picked up his leather jacket and gloves.</p><p>“Where are you going?” Daniel asked.</p><p>“I can't sit in this house with that family in the garage,” Johnny replied. “They're still in the car. I'll just dump the asshole in the trunk then drive it out into the street, away from here, and before you ask, <em>no</em>, I don't want any help.”</p><p>“You shouldn't have to do this alone,” Daniel said softly.</p><p>“It's really bad down there and I don't want anyone else to have to see,” Johnny replied. “Just let me take them out of here, and everything will be fine. We can stay a few days and rest up.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Johnny had promised he'd be back in 15 minutes, 20 tops, but it was half an hour later, and there was no word from him.</p><p>“Mr LaRusso?” Miguel said. “Do you think Sensei Lawrence is OK? He's been gone a long time.”</p><p>“He has his radio,” Daniel said, reassuringly. “And you know if anyone can handle themselves out there it's Johnny.”</p><p>“He might be in trouble though,” Miguel suggested. “Maybe we should go look for him.”</p><p>“There's no <em>we</em> in this situation, Miguel,” Daniel said. “If he doesn't call on the radio in the next ten minutes then<em> I'll</em> go looking for him, but you're staying here where it's safe.”</p><p> </p><p><br/>Miguel waited for another five minutes, sitting by his radio, desperate for it to make any sound, but it remained silent.  He thought about sending a message out, asking his Sensei if everything was OK, but he secretly worried that if Johnny was hiding or in a bad situation, that the cracking noise from the radio might give away his location, and he didn't want to make things worse.</p><p>Johnny might need his help, though. He might be out there, waiting for help to come, but Mr LaRusso wouldn't take the chance, and because of that Johnny might die.</p><p>He couldn't wait. </p><p>Miguel quietly let himself into the garage, finding that the shutter door was still up, and he hugged the walls of the property until he could make a break for it over the scorched, dry grass, and he hopped the fence out into the street.</p><p>He climbed into the garden of the neighbouring property, then skirted silently down the street that Johnny would have driven the car down until he came to a fork in the road. He walked down the left side fork for a few minutes, but quickly remembered that it led back to the main road where they had seen more walkers, so he doubled back retracing his steps till he was back at the fork.</p><p>He looked down the right hand fork, but his view was around the curve of the road was partially blocked by an overturned UPS truck that had somehow ended up on its side on a lawn.</p><p>He walked to the truck, and at the bend he could see a familiar flash of red, as Johnny walked towards him. </p><p>Miguel breathed a sign of relief, jogging past the open end end of the truck, then heard a voice behind him.</p><p>“Miguel!” Daniel shouted.</p><p>Miguel went to turn, but he was slammed against the truck by some unseen force, and as all the breath was knocked out of him, he felt something clamp down on his shoulder.</p><p>There was a sudden flurry of movement, as Daniel burst forward, grabbing the walker that had it's hands around Miguel, and it's mouth at his shoulder, biting down.</p><p>There was a blur of red as Johnny sprinted towards them, but Miguel was already being pulled up, as Daniel ran his hands over his shoulder then started pulling at the zip of his jacket</p><p>The leather jacket was ripped off him, hurting his arms with the force of it, as Daniel held it up to the light, then pulled Miguel's T shirt up.</p><p>There was no blood. It hurt, but there was no blood, and Miguel stood in shock, watching as Johnny kicked the flailing creature until his foot went through its chest wall.</p><p>“Johnny, it's OK!” Daniel shouted, holding the jacket up. “It didn't get through the leather.” </p><p>Johnny didn't react, he continued kicking the zombie that was trapped up against the base of the overturned truck, stamping on its skull until its head was a smear of ground meat against the asphalt.</p><p>Daniel grabbed Miguel's arm and pulled him forwards, as Johnny walked round in a tight circle like a caged Tiger about to pounce.</p><p>“It didn't get him,” Daniel said, pulling up the sleeve of Miguel's T shirt, uncovering the darkening bruise.</p><p>Johnny turned once more, letting out a roaring scream as he punched the flat bed of the truck repeatedly.</p><p>Daniel pulled Miguel back as Johnny went around once more in an angry circle, then turned back to them. He grabbed Miguel and pulled him in, wrapping his arms around him tightly, as his body shook.</p><p>“I'm OK,” Miguel said quietly. “I'm OK.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The manuscript Illumination that they spend some time looking at in the Getty is <a href="https://artdaily.cc/news/55761/The-devil-s-in-the-details--Getty-s-new-manuscript-exhibition-gives-death-and-the-afterlife-a-warm-welcome#.X8vSj2j7QdU">Denise Poncher before a Vision of Death</a>.</p><p>Also this fic now has 6 chapters. It just keeps growing :-P</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Go to your room!” Daniel shouted as they arrived back at the house.</p><p>“But-” Miguel said.</p><p>“<em>GO TO YOUR ROOM, NOW!</em>” Daniel shouted again, as he dragged Johnny through the door. “Eli, you too. Upstairs <em>NOW!</em>”</p><p>Miguel ran up the stairs, tears streaming down his face, and Eli grabbed him as they ran into their room.</p><p>“What happened?” Eli asked.</p><p>“I messed up,” Miguel admitted as he threw himself on the bed and sobbed.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
The sound of shouting from was echoing round the house, and Miguel moved to the top of the stairs, clinging to the wall, listening to it all.</p><p><em>“You cannot behave like that in front of them!”</em> Daniel shouted.</p><p>Johnny must have replied, but it was too quiet for Miguel to hear, as Daniel shouted again, <em>“They're kids, Johnny! They need to feel safe!”</em></p><p>There was the sound of feet stamping out of the kitchen to the bottom of the stairs, and Miguel quickly retreated to the bedroom, then moved into the bathroom, placing his ear against the door.</p><p><em>“If you want to leave I won't try to stop you,”</em> Johnny said, as he walked into the bedroom.<em> “You can take Miguel with you too. I obviously can't take care of him.”</em></p><p><em>“Jesus, you don't even get it do you?”</em> Daniel said, letting out a breath. <em>“Miguel </em>loves <em>you. He wouldn't go anywhere without you, and that makes him your responsibility.”</em></p><p><em>“It's also our responsibility to make sure they can take care of themselves if anything happens to us!”</em> Johnny shouted. <em>“This isn't our world any more, LaRusso, it belongs to those things outside, and those kids. We're just here to guide them till the inevitable happens.”</em></p><p><em>“We aren't going to die, Johnny,”</em> Daniel said. <em>“We just need to be careful. We need to look after each other.”</em></p><p><em>“You don't know that,”</em> Johnny shouted back. <em>“You never know when one of those things will take you by surprise.” </em></p><p><em>“That's true,”</em> Daniel said, <em>“and after I lost my family I thought there was nothing worth carrying on for, but I was wrong. Eli and Miguel are worth it, and so are you.”</em></p><p><em>“I'm just so tired of being alone, Daniel,”</em> Johnny said, and Miguel sat up. Hearing him use Mr LaRusso's first name was somehow so shockingly intimate that for the first time he felt bad about listening through the door. <em>“Even before the zombies, I had no one.” </em></p><p>
  <em>“I'm not going anywhere.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I'm just so tired of it all.” </em>
</p><p><em>“We'll stay here a while,”</em> Daniel replied. <em>“We could all use the break.”</em></p><p>There was the sound of sniffing, a few hitches of breath and Daniel whispering, <em>“It's OK. Everything's going to be OK.” </em></p><p>Johnny said something, but it was muffled by something soft, and then Daniel said, <em>“Come on, let me see that hand.”</em></p><p><em>“It's fine,”</em> Johnny mumbled. </p><p>There was silence for a while, then a small sound of pain, before Daniel finally said, <em>“You're lucky. it doesn't feel like anything is broken. I'll go get some ice to take the swelling down. Just lay down, and I'll be back soon.”</em></p><p>As Daniel left the room, Miguel got up, and closed the bathroom door gently.</p><p>“Where are you going?” Eli whispered. “He told us to stay in here.”</p><p>“I have to go apologise,” Miguel said as he slipped out of the door.</p><p>Miguel quietly padded down the stairs, and went into the kitchen. “Mr LaRusso?”</p><p>“Hey, Miguel, I'm glad you've come down,” Daniel said. He sounded tired and defeated, as if the argument had taken more out of him than he cared to admit. “I'm sorry for shouting at you and Eli. You'd just been through something really traumatic, and I'm sorry if I scared you. I shouldn't have done that.”</p><p>“I'm OK,” Miguel said with a shrug.</p><p>“Come sit down, let me have a look at that shoulder,” Daniel said, waving towards the chair. “How are you feeling?”</p><p>Miguel sat down in one of the wooden chairs, and said, “I'm fine. I mean it was scary, but I'm OK now.”</p><p>Daniel pulled Miguel's T shirt up, and said, “That's gonna be a hell of a bruise. It's a good job you were wearing that jacket.”</p><p>As Daniel went back to the freezer compartment, Miguel said, “I'd be dead if it wasn't for Johnny.”</p><p>“No, Miguel,” Daniel said, as he pulled out a bag of frozen peas. “If he hadn't filled your head with this Cobra Kai zombie fighting nonsense you'd have stayed in the house where it was safe.”</p><p>“I don't just mean now,” Miguel said, hissing as Mr LaRusso placed the peas on the bruise. “I was alone when Johnny found me. He saved me from four zombies, and if he hadn't been there they would've got me. Even if that hadn't happened, I was almost out of food, but I would have been too scared to leave the apartment block. I wouldn't be alive without him.”</p><p>“You're a good kid, Miguel,” Daniel said, as he wrapped an arm around him. “You keep that on your shoulder to take the bruising down, and I'm gonna take some ice up to Johnny, OK?”</p><p>“OK,” Miguel nodded.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
Johnny didn't come down for lunch, but Mr LaRusso took a plate up to him. The same thing happened at dinner, and even though he waited in the bathroom, Miguel heard no sounds in the other bedroom that evening, aside from soft, comforting whispers.</p><p>When Johnny didn't appear for breakfast the next morning Miguel was worried, but before he could even ask Mr LaRusso whether he was OK, Daniel sat them down at the kitchen table.</p><p>“We've decided to stay here for a while,” Daniel said, folding his hands together. “Johnny isn't feeling too good, so we're going to try to relax, play some games, watch some movies, and have some good meals where it's safe.”</p><p>“Is he OK?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“He'll be fine. He just needs a break, we all do,” Daniel said. </p><p>“Can you tell him I'm sorry?” Miguel asked.  </p><p>“Miguel, absolutely <em>none</em> of this is your fault OK?” Daniel said. “You've got nothing to feel bad or guilty about. You don't have to apologise for anything.”</p><p>“Can I see him?”</p><p>“Not right now,” Daniel said quietly. “He'll come down when he's ready, but I'll tell him you were asking after him.”</p><p>“OK,” Miguel said quietly.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
Miguel and Eli spent a lot of time playing on the PS4 over the next few days, and as they laughed and cheered at the games there were times it almost felt like the world was a normal place. With the high chain link fence they felt safe, and they hadn't seen a single zombie since the encounter on the street, and it would have been perfect, but Johnny still hadn't come out of the bedroom since that day, and Miguel missed him.</p><p> </p><p>They'd just finished breakfast one morning, when Mr LaRusso appeared wearing his leather jacket, and said, “Come on, we've got something to do.”</p><p>Miguel looked at him. “Is Johnny coming?”</p><p>“No,” Daniel said, shaking his head. “But this was his idea, so hopefully he'll be down later, and you can tell him about it.”</p><p> </p><p>They walked out through the second gate and into the wide open space of the parking lot of the Country club, and paused as Daniel said, “OK, keep your eyes open. We should be able to spot them pretty easily out here.”</p><p>They crossed the lot, heading towards an empty car that stood alone, abandoned across the lines of two spaces, with the driver's side door left open.</p><p>“What are we doing?” Eli asked, as Daniel got in the driver's seat. “Are we going out?”</p><p>“Yes<em>sss</em>,” Daniel said under his breath, as he found the keys laying in the footwell. He put them in and started the engine, then smiled. “I'm going to teach you both how to drive.”</p><p>“<em>Really?</em>” Miguel asked excitedly.</p><p>“Yup,” Daniel replied. “So who wants to go first?”</p><p> </p><p>Miguel went first, learning how to put the car in gear and start it. The first time he touched the accelerator and the car lurched forward he almost decided that he never wanted to drive again. It felt dangerous, like he might get his foot stuck under the brake pedal and they would all die in a ball of flames and twisted metal, but Daniel was a good teacher and calmed his nerves. </p><p>Soon he was slowly inching the car around the lot, and Daniel said, “You're doing great!”</p><p>Miguel traded places with Eli, and after a few false starts they were soon making another lap of the parking lot. As they went past the gate in the chain link fence, Miguel saw a flash of red in the yard in front of the house.</p><p>“Hey, is it OK if I get out here?” Miguel asked. “I really need the bathroom.”</p><p>“Sure,” Daniel said, as he took out the key to the padlock and handed it to Miguel. “Eli, can you pull over here a second.”</p><p>Daniel got out of the car, scanning the area for walkers. “OK, it's clear. We'll wait till you get through.”</p><p>Miguel hopped out of the car and opened the padlock, he slipped the chain through the fence, ducked inside, then locked it behind himself.</p><p>“We'll go park the car out of the way, and be back in five minutes,” Daniel said, as Miguel handed him the key.</p><p>Miguel watched them drive away, then turned back towards the house. The trailer was open, and Johnny stepped out of it. </p><p>“Hey,” Miguel said.</p><p>Johnny looked slightly surprised to see him, as he quickly locked the trailer door. “Hey, how was the lesson?”</p><p>“It was good. I stalled the car less times than Eli anyway,” he said with a smile.</p><p>Johnny let out a small laugh as he popped the top on one of the cans he'd picked up from the trailer, and sat down on the wall.</p><p>“How are you feeling?” Miguel asked, noting that even though Johnny hadn't left the bedroom in a while, he still looked completely exhausted. </p><p>“I'm OK,” Johnny replied. </p><p>“Mr LaRusso said you weren't feeling well.” </p><p>Johnny smiled, and said, “Well, he's a drama queen. Don't you worry about me, kid. I'll be fine.” </p><p>“Hey, you're up,” Daniel said, as he an Eli arrived back in the compound.</p><p>“Takes more than that to knock me down, LaRusso, you know that,” Johnny said smiling up at him.</p><p>“I like that T shirt,” Daniel said.</p><p>“I feel like a nerd,” Johnny said looking down at the slightly too tight Getty Museum T Shirt he was wearing under his unzipped jacket.</p><p>“You <em>look</em> like a nerd,” Daniel replied with a grin.</p><p>Johnny shrugged, and said, “It's your t shirt.”</p><p>“I know,” Daniel said, as he put his hand on Johnny's shoulder, then gently teased his fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.</p><p>Johnny grinned up at him, then his eyes flicked to Miguel and Eli, and he cleared his throat. “So, how'd the lesson go?”</p><p>Daniel whipped his hand away as if he'd been burnt. “It went good. We have two smart kids on our hands.”</p><p>“Cool,” Johnny said. “Won't be long till those two will be up front and it'll be me and you in the back seat.”</p><p>It was Daniel's turn to clear his throat, and he said, “I think I'll go start dinner.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
Johnny sat in the kitchen while Daniel cooked, but Miguel stayed clear, not wanting to disturb them. He played on the PS4 with Eli for a while, even though he wanted nothing more that to go downstairs and sit with Johnny. Miguel still hadn't had the chance to apologise for what happened out on the street, and as much as he wanted to, he worried that bringing it up might make Johnny retreat back to the bedroom.</p><p><br/>
After dinner he started looking through the extensive DVD collection, and as he pulled out a plastic sleeve, he said, “Oh yes!”</p><p>“What is it?” Eli asked, then as Miguel showed him the case he said, “Ah yeah, that's a good one!”</p><p>“Can we watch a film tonight?” Miguel asked. “All of us, together?”</p><p>“We won't be able to have it too loud,” Daniel said. “But sure, that'll be fun.”</p><p>“You got something in mind?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“You said you'd never seen a Marvel film before,” Miguel said, holding out the well worn copy of <em>Iron Man</em>.</p><p>“Has it got action?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Fighting?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Hot babes?” Johnny asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“It has Gwyneth Paltrow,” Miguel replied.</p><p>“It has Robert Downey Jr. too,” Eli added with a smirk.</p><p>“That'll do,” Johnny said, taking the case and reading the back.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As Johnny had never seen the film, Miguel and Eli insisted that he sat on the small couch opposite the big screen TV, with a big bucket of ice at his feet, filled with beer and Mr LaRusso sat next to him, while they took the two smaller chairs.</p><p>As soon as the film started, and the Humvees drove through the desert accompanied by the opening chords of <em>Back in Black</em> by AC/DC Johnny sat forward in his seat, and Miguel smiled to himself, knowing he was going to love it.</p><p>As the film went on Johnny seemed to be gradually listing to one side, inching further towards Daniel, until eventually as the film ended, he was laid up against his side. They were plainly still trying to hide what happening between them and doing a <em>really</em> poor job of it, but it made Miguel smile all the same.</p><p>As the film came to an end Miguel turned the volume down, and let the disc play through the special features, as he asked, “What did you think?”</p><p>“Yeah, it was cool. I enjoyed it,” Johnny said, still laid out on Daniel, as he dropped his last empty beer bottle into the bucket, then kicked his feet over the edge of the couch and let them dangle in the air. “Great music.”</p><p>“I thought you'd like that,” Miguel replied, watching as Johnny shuffled down and let his head rest on Daniel's knees.</p><p>“That guy though,” Johnny said. “What an asshole!” </p><p>“Which one?” Eli asked. </p><p>“The one who built the bigger robot,” Johnny continued. “I mean he's supposed to be looking after Tony after his parents died, but he tried to kill him. What an dick!”</p><p>“I can see why you think that, yeah,” Daniel replied. </p><p>“Should I build a suit of armour?” Johnny suddenly asked, looking up at Mr LaRusso. </p><p>“No,” Daniel replied. </p><p>“But it'd be great for fighting zombies.”</p><p>“Come on, let's go to bed,” Daniel sighed, then he smiled. “It's too late for you to be searching for sheet metal and a welder.” </p><p>“OK, <em>OK</em>,” Johnny said, as he climbed to his feet, then offered Daniel his hand. </p><p>Daniel grabbed his hand, and hauled himself off the sofa. “Make sure all the doors are locked and everything is turned off before you come up, OK?”</p><p>“We will,” Eli replied.</p><p>“Night,” they both said, as they left the room the walked up the stairs.</p><p>Miguel listened until he heard the sound of the bedroom door closing. “OK I admit it, you were right. They really are in love, or are heading that way.” </p><p>“Told ya,” Eli replied. “It's even funnier when you know that, because watching them trying to hide it is <em>hilarious</em>.”</p><p>“Maybe we should tell them we know?” Miguel asked. “Seems kinda cruel that we're making them sneak around when it doesn't really matter.” </p><p>“Nah, this is <em>much</em> funnier,” Eli said with a grin. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They stayed at the grounds keeper's house for another week, spending each day learning how to drive the car in the country club parking lot, until all the cars ran out of gas and the cupboards were starting to look bare. The brief respite from the world outside had been a blessing, and everything seemed lighter.</p><p>It was soon time to think about moving on, and Johnny packed the PS4 in a box, along with their favourite games, and took some empty gas cans out of the trailer to stow it away safely.</p><p>“When we get back to Encino you'll be able to set it up in the cinema room,” he said.</p><p>“Are we going home?” Miguel asked, excited about going back.</p><p>“Not yet, but we will soon.”</p><p>“So where are we going?”</p><p>“Same place we've always been going.”</p><p>“You've never actually told me <em>where</em> we're going, though,” Miguel said.</p><p>“The beach,” Johnny replied.</p><p>“<em>Wait</em>,” Miguel said incredulously. “We've come all this way to go to the <em>beach?</em>”</p><p>“There's not many things that aren't made better by sitting on the sand and watching the ocean,” Johnny replied.</p><p>Mr LaRusso came out from the house carrying his black bag that he'd thrown into the car the first day they met, and placed it safely on the back seat.</p><p>“Did you know we were going to the beach?” Miguel asked.</p><p>Daniel nodded, and shrugged his shoulders. “There are worse places to go.” </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
They left the safety of the country club, and headed down Sunset Boulevard as it wound its way through rows of expensive looking houses, which gave way to green forests of trees. </p><p>Miguel was stewing in his own thoughts in the back seat, thinking how stupid was to come all this way, to leave the safety of the big white mansion just to go to the <em>beach</em>, but then the car pulled round a corner and the sky opened up in front of them.</p><p>An unexpected spark of excitement ran through Miguel as he saw the ocean for the first time in four months, and when the car pulled over, and he stepped out, smelling the sea air, he realised Johnny had been right. There was nothing quite as amazing as a California beach on a warm, sunny day, and he didn't realise just how much he had missed it.</p><p>There were remarkably few walkers in sight as they sat on the beach; just a few shambling through the surf on the other side of the Santa Monica storm drain, attracted by the noise of the crashing waves. </p><p>Miguel took his shoes off and let the sand tickle between his toes as he wiggled them in the soft grains.</p><p>He walked down the edge of the sea, letting his feet sink into the wet sand as the cool waves washed over his ankles.</p><p>Johnny was sat on the sand when he got back, and Miguel walked up to him. “I'm sorry.”</p><p>“What for?” Johnny asked, squinting up at him.</p><p>“I thought coming here was a stupid idea, and I was wrong,” he said. “I had no idea how much I missed the ocean.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They were back in the car, Mr LaRusso driving, and they continued down the Pacific Coast Highway, weaving their way through broken down cars.</p><p>“We should probably turn off soon,” Daniel said. “Santa Monica will probably have <em>way</em> more zombies than we can handle.”</p><p>“Yeah, that's a good idea,” Johnny said, then there was a popping sound, followed by a huge bang, and the car listed to one side as a tyre blew out, and it threw them off the road, hurtling into a street lamp.</p><p>Miguel sat for a moment, gasping for breath, the world spinning as everything came back to him.</p><p>“Are you guys OK?” Daniel shouted to the back seat. </p><p>Miguel looked at Eli, he looked dazed, but unhurt. “Yeah, we're fine.”</p><p>“You OK?” Daniel asked, sounding worried, as Johnny groaned and raised his head. </p><p>Johnny blinked slowly then wiped at the blood that was pouring down the left side of his head. </p><p>“Johnny?” Daniel asked again. </p><p>“Obviously I'm <em>not</em> OK,” he replied, looking at his blood covered hands.  </p><p>“Johnny, look at me,” Daniel said, putting his hands at the side of Johnny's face, and turning his head. “Do you remember my name?” </p><p>Johnny paused a moment then said, “Danielle.” </p><p>“Yup, you're fine,” Daniel huffed as Johnny let out a self satisfied cackle. “First aid kit?”</p><p>“Glove box,” Johnny said, wincing.</p><p>Daniel pulled out the First aid kit, then unrolled a dressing and ripped open some packages of bandages. “OK, let me have a look.”</p><p>Johnny obediently twisted his head so Daniel had a better angle to examine the wound, and then shouted, “Ow fucker! Did you do that on purpose?” </p><p>“Will you hold still?” </p><p>“Quit poking my head hole, genius, and I will!” </p><p>“Jesus, there's so much blood your brain could be leaking out of your ear and I wouldn't be able to tell.”</p><p>“Just wrap it up and we can deal with it later,” Johnny said.</p><p>Daniel opened one of the dressings, then stuck it to the open wound, then started wrapping a bandage round it. “Well, it doesn't look pretty, but I don't think you'll bleed to death now.”</p><p>There was a thumping sound from behind them, and Miguel looked back, through the car window. “What was that?”</p><p>“It's... probably just the suspension making noises,” Johnny said, less than convincingly.</p><p>“<em>What?</em>” Daniel asked. “What are you talking about?”</p><p>The thumping sound came again, and Eli said, “I think it's coming from the trailer.”</p><p>Johnny and Daniel looked at each other in the front seat for a moment, and Johnny, with a note of warning in his voice said, “Don't.”</p><p>Daniel jumped out of the car, and Johnny opened his door, trying to jump out too, but his motions were slow, as he staggered on his feet.</p><p>Miguel climbed out after them, as Daniel smashed the lock off the trailer door, and opened it.</p><p>Johnny was true to his word. The trailer was stacked with beer and gas cans, but at the back something large was half covered by a white sheet, and it was close to one side of the trailer, making it unbalanced, and something inside was punching the metal wall.</p><p>As Miguel drew closer he could see there was a metal floor, surrounded by bars, made of various widths of metal poles, similar to the gates he'd seen on many of the expensive houses in Encino, with weld marks holding them together.</p><p>Feet moved around inside the cage, as the metallic thumping sound echoed through the trailer again.</p><p>“Who's in the cage, Johnny?” Daniel asked.</p><p>“It's none of your business,” Johnny said, as he pushed Daniel aside and climbed into the trailer.</p><p>Daniel took a step closer, and asked again, “Who's in the cage?”</p><p>“Who is it?” Miguel asked nervously.</p><p>“Well kid, you asked me if I'd ever killed anyone who wasn't a zombie,” Johnny said to Miguel, then he pulled the sheet off the cage, and said, “Well, here you go, get a good look.”</p><p>“Is that <em>Kreese?</em>” Daniel gasped.</p><p>Miguel watched as the zombie reached out, it's right hand missing, as it pressed it's face up against the narrow bars of the cage, desperately trying to bite.</p><p>“He kept begging me and begging me to kill him, and I couldn't do it,” Johnny said, looking through the cage bars. “I thought he was dead all these years, but he appeared out of nowhere and he saved me from some walkers just after it all happened, but I couldn't save him when it mattered.”</p><p>Miguel remembered.</p><p>
  <em>“Gloves obviously, always wear gloves. You punch one of these fuckers in the mouth and cut your knuckle on its teeth you will end up losing your hand. Believe me, I've seen it and it's a god damn unpleasant way to go.”</em>
</p><p>“It's not your fault,” Miguel shouted. “You didn't kill him, it was the infection. He just turned.”</p><p>“Same thing,” Johnny replied, as he backed further into the trailer.</p><p>“Johnny,” Daniel said. “Step out of the way.”</p><p>“I'm not gonna let you kill him, man,” Johnny said, backing away from Daniel. “I'm not gonna be on my own again.”</p><p>“Johnny, you have <em>us</em>,” Daniel said. “We aren't going anywhere, and I'm going to keep telling you that every <em>single</em> day until believe me, because it's the truth.”</p><p>“I think he knows who I am,” Johnny said. “I think he recognises me when I talk to him.”</p><p>“He's a <em>zombie</em>,” Daniel said. “You know as well as I do that they don't remember anything.” </p><p>“He's safe in there though. He can't get us,” Johnny rambled. “So we can just keep him in the cage, in the trailer and you can forget about him. When we get back we can put the trailer in the garage and you never have to see him again.” </p><p>“<em>Jesus</em>, Johnny,” Daniel said. “This isn't healthy.” </p><p>“Hey, I never claimed to be that sane. You knew what you were getting into.” </p><p>Daniel hung his head, running his hand across his mouth. </p><p>“I know what you're thinking,” Johnny said, taking another step back. “I'm not gonna let you kill him.” </p><p>“He's already <em>dead</em>. It wouldn't be killing him,” Daniel said.</p><p>“Nah, nah, we can just push the cage back into the middle and close the door and you can forget that you saw him, OK?” </p><p>“I can't do that. I can't let you keep doing this to <em>yourself</em>.” </p><p>“It's my choice OK, so back off,” Johnny said, raising his fists. </p><p>“Johnny, he's gone,” Daniel said as he moved closer. </p><p>“Stop it,” Johnny said, taking a step back. </p><p>“He's gone, Johnny. It's time to let him go,” he moved closer again as Johnny edged backwards. </p><p>“No,” he shook his head. “I'm not going to be alone again.” </p><p>“You're not alone,” Daniel said reaching up and touching his hair. “I'm here, and I love you.”</p><p>Johnny started to lower his fists, and he quietly asked, “You love me?”</p><p> “I do,” Daniel replied, with a soft smile. “I love you.”</p><p>“You-” Johnny was cut off when an arm reached from inside the cage, and wrapped itself tightly around his neck.</p><p>“No!” Daniel shouted, as he ran forward and grabbed the zombie's other wrist, desperately trying to stop it from reaching out and scratching. “Help!”</p><p>Johnny was gasping for air, trying to get his hands round the creature's stump wrist, as Eli ran forward into the trailer, and started pulling at the arm, as Kreese banged his head against the narrow bars.</p><p>Miguel heard Daniel shout for him, but he found himself momentarily rooted to the spot, then as Johnny started to fade, one hand dropping from the zombie's arm, he was suddenly spurred into action.</p><p>Miguel ran to the front of the car, opened the glove compartment, and took out the gun. He ran into the trailer, and stood by the side of the cage, then raised his shaking hands, as he held the gun towards the creature.</p><p>“Safety,” Daniel gasped, struggling to hold the zombie's hand away from Johnny. “On the side.”</p><p>Miguel snapped the safety off, the put his hand through the cage bars, pointing the gun directly at the zombie's face.</p><p>“<em>No</em>,” Johnny croaked, on the verge of losing consciousness.</p><p>“I'm sorry,” Miguel said, then he pulled the trigger.</p><p>Miguel dropped the gun immediately as the cracking shot echoed through the trailer, and he fell to his knees, with his hands covering his ringing ears.</p><p>The zombie fell like a lifeless rag doll, and Johnny crumpled to the floor, gasping for breath.</p><p>“Are you OK?” Daniel asked, putting his hand on Johnny's shoulder, but it was shrugged away, as Johnny climbed to his feet. </p><p>He looked at the broken body in cage, then silently walked out of the trailer.</p><p>Daniel helped Eli to his feet, then pulled him and Miguel into a tight hug, as he asked, “Are you OK? It didn't scratch you did it?”</p><p>“I'm fine,” Eli replied.</p><p>“I'm OK too,” Miguel said, then he asked, “Who was that guy?” </p><p>“It's a long story, kid,” Daniel said. “But you did the right thing.”</p><p>“I better go talk to Johnny,” Miguel said. “I need to say sorry.”</p><p>“You don't have to apologise,” Daniel replied, “but we better go check he's OK.”</p><p>They jumped out of the trailer, and looked around the empty street.</p><p>“Shit,” Daniel said under his breath. “No, no, <em>no</em>...”</p><p>Miguel ran to the front of the car, hoping to find him there, but there was no sign of him.</p><p>“Johnny?” Daniel shouted. “Johnny, where are you?”</p><p>Only the moaning wails of the dead answered back.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I wrote a little background information about what happened with Johnny and Kreese before the opening of this fic <a href="https://lulamadison.tumblr.com/post/643113173590949888/show-chapter-archive">here</a> on Tumblr if people are interested to find out how Kreese ended up in the cage ;-)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thankfully the car still ran, despite the damage to the front end, and the spare tyre in the trunk was not only there, but in good working order. Daniel had quickly replaced it, then unhooked the trailer, as Miguel and Eli kept watch. </p><p>They had been driving for thirty minutes up and down the small streets, looking for any sign of Johnny, after he disappeared, and Miguel was starting to worry about the number of walkers that were being attracted out into the street by their activity. </p><p>“God <em>dammit</em>, Johnny,” Daniel said as he smacked his hand against the steering wheel, his voice sounding like he was on the verge of tears. “How could he do this?” </p><p>“He must have found a car,” Miguel said, nervously fidgeting with the radio that Johnny had left on the seat. “There's no way he went in a building, and he can't have got this far on foot.”</p><p>“Where the hell would he go?” Daniel asked, as they pulled back onto the highway alongside the beach.</p><p>“I know where he is!” Eli shouted from the back seat.</p><p>“Where?” Daniel said.</p><p>“He's on the pier!”</p><p>“How do you know that?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“Because it's on fire,” Eli replied, pointing through the windscreen at the rising smoke.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
They sped along the road, weaving between the cars that dotted the route, then pulled onto Ocean avenue in front of the entrance to the Santa Monica pier, and Miguel shouted “Look!”</p><p>There was a motorcycle laying on its side at the arched entrance, its engine still running, and a smear of fresh bright red blood on the gas tank.</p><p>“It has to be him,” Daniel said, as he turned the car onto the ramp.</p><p>They started to drive down the pier towards the parking area, and Miguel watched the steady stream of the dead walking down the pedestrian side of the ramp, heading towards the flames.</p><p>“There's a <em>lot</em> of zombies,” Eli said.</p><p>Daniel pulled the car up outside the small police station that stood halfway down the pier, and watched as the zombies spilled out of the walkway, fanning out across in front of the burning section of buildings.</p><p>“We have to do something!” Miguel shouted.</p><p>“Pass me the bag,” Daniel said, and Eli picked up the black leather bag and handed it into the front seat.</p><p>“We need a plan,” Miguel shouted. “We can't just leave him!”</p><p>“It's time to bring out the big guns, literally,” Daniel said, as he pulled a machine gun out of the black bag.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Miguel shrieked, as he watched Daniel take an ammunition clip from the bag. “We don't kill zombies with guns!”</p><p>“That's Cobra Kai, kid,” Daniel said, as he snapped the clip into the machine gun. “I'm Miyagi Do, and we are all about the defence.”</p><p>“<em>Ugh</em>, god,” Miguel said, rolling his eyes. “You and Johnny were just <em>made</em> for each other.”</p><p>“So what's the plan?” Eli asked.</p><p>“If we can make as much noise as possible, maybe we can attract them off the pier, and that'll give me a chance to get across to the end,” Daniel said.</p><p>“And then what?” Miguel asked.</p><p>“I dunno, shoot them?” Daniel mumbled.</p><p>“Do you even know how to <em>fire</em> that thing?” Miguel asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“It can't be that hard,” Daniel said, then he added, “<em>Can it?</em>”</p><p>“Johnny needs us now!” Miguel shouted at him. “He could be trapped. He could be unconscious, he has a head injury, remember?”</p><p>There was a crash as something exploded inside the Funnel Cake store, and a section of planks in front of it collapsed into the sea.</p><p>“We have have to find another way,” Daniel said, as he watched the raging fire. “We can't go over there.” </p><p>“<em>What?</em>” Miguel shouted. “You said we were going to get him!”</p><p>“Miguel, even if we get over to the other side of the pier, which is unlikely with all those walkers, there will be no way for us to get <em>back</em>,” Daniel said. “We need a different plan.”</p><p>“We need a boat,” Eli said.</p><p>“A <em>boat?</em>” Miguel asked incredulously.</p><p>“There's a Marina just outside Venice beach,” Daniel said.</p><p>“That's too far away,” Miguel said. “We need to help him <em>now!</em>”</p><p>Miguel opened the car door and took off at a run, ignoring Daniel's screams for him to stop as he sprinted as fast he could past the straggling zombies, and towards the flames.</p><p>As he ran he saw buildings up ahead, and grabbed a heavy wooden spade with a thick plastic blade from a bin outside a store, then he saw a small hand cart filled with paper and art supplies, stood in front of a collapsed display of caricature pictures.  He grabbed the handles of the cart, and pushed it ahead of him, using it as a battering ram, he slammed it into the zombies that were milling around the fire, pushing them into the sea.</p><p>The hole in the pier was bigger than Miguel had realised, and he lost his grip on the handcart, and saw it plummet into the waves below, then he turned, running back towards the car, seeing Daniel running towards him, screaming his name.</p><p>Miguel turned back and paused, trying to judge the distance through the flames, then he ran.</p><p>The heat was almost unbearable as he jumped through the fire, and he lost his footing as he landed on the other side of the gap, then scrambled back to his feet, and propelled himself beyond the staggering heat and smoke. </p><p>There was a crash behind him, and Miguel turned to see the entire section of the pier collapse into the waves below. There was no way back now.</p><p>He got up and kept running, swinging the wooden spade at the heads of zombies like it was an axe, until it stuck in a walkers face, and half the blade sheered off as he tried to pull it out.</p><p>He kept on running through the zombies, hearing their moans from the far end of the pier growing louder as he approached, and Miguel knew they only made that sound when they had a target, when they had someone surrounded, and were trying to reach them.</p><p>Miguel stopped at a table where an overturned bucket was surrounded by spilled coins, and found a microphone stand laying on the floor. He picked it up and lashed it into the face of the nearest zombie, cracking its skull, then he stopped, and looked out to the end of the pier.</p><p>The zombies were gathering, crushing themselves into a narrow walkway beside the harbour office, and beyond that was a small outcrop of pier, surrounded on all four sides by waist high railings, and Johnny stood at the the end of it, fighting the mass of creatures off.</p><p>Miguel ran as fast as he could, watching as Johnny slashed at the faces of the zombies closest to him with a sheared off pole, but the dead bodies were piling up, and he knew it wouldn't be long until they started stepping on the broken corpses and staggered over the railing.</p><p>As the zombies started to rise up, stepping on the limbs and backs of their fallen, Miguel saw Johnny pull out his gun, and he remembered:</p><p>
  <em>“That's a last resort,” Johnny said. “That's for me if I ever get bitten, or I'm in a situation I know I can't get out of.”</em>
</p><p>Miguel skidded to a halt, and shouted, “Johnny!”</p><p>Johnny looked over at Miguel, a look of disbelief on his face, then he looked back at the zombies, as one by one they turned, and the creatures at the back of the pack began moving away from the pier outcrop, heading back towards the main pier where Miguel stood.</p><p>Johnny raised his gun, pointing it at one of the receding zombies.</p><p>“No!” Miguel shouted, as Johnny shot the zombie in the back of the head.</p><p>The zombies stopped, and turned back, their arms out, hands frenziedly clutching at the air, as Johnny shouted, “Go find LaRusso, kid. Don't look back!” </p><p>“No,” Miguel shouted, as he ran to the railing and hammered the microphone stand against it, the chiming sound echoing along the pier. “I'm not going to leave you to die.”</p><p>“Stop doing that, you're going to get yourself killed!” Johnny shouted, as the zombies at the back of the group started to turn towards Miguel.</p><p>“We can do it, Johnny. If we work together we can kill them all!” Miguel shouted. “We're Cobra Kai!”</p><p>Johnny stabbed a zombie in the face with his broken off pole, then grinned. “Attack the stragglers. I'll keep them facing this way and bottlenecked. You attack from behind. Hit and run, kid.”</p><p>“Hit and run,” Miguel repeated to himself.</p><p>“You ready?” Johnny shouted, and Miguel nodded.</p><p>Johnny raised the gun again and fired into the face of the nearest zombie, and Miguel took off running towards the edge of the horde.</p><p>He raised his microphone pole and whipped into the side of the head of the walker at the back of the pack as he ran past it. The walker collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, and Miguel carried on running into the underpass between the office and the Mexican restaurant to its side. </p><p>He turned back and took off again, running as fast as he could, past the the end of the walkway, cracking another zombie before it even knew he was there. As he ran back, hitting another walker in the head with the stand he almost ran into a bucket, and tripped over it in the passageway. A mop fell on the floor, and Miguel grabbed it.</p><p>He heard the gun firing again, and knew it was taking too long. He'd only killed four walkers, and there was at least another 15 still alive, trying to get to Johnny.</p><p>He looked round desperately, then saw exactly what he needed to do.</p><p>Miguel ran towards the restroom next to the Harbor office, and used the low railing to climb up onto the flat roof, then he leapt across the gap over to the next, higher restroom, and ran to the edge.</p><p>“Throw me the gun,” Miguel shouted. “I have an idea.”</p><p>Johnny used the pole to push a walker over the railing, then put the safety on, and threw the gun onto the roof. “Whatever you're doing doing fast, or I'm going in the sea, and I don't know whether these things sink, so I might not be alone.”</p><p>“When I get them over near the restroom climb out of there and head left,” Miguel said. “You can get on this roof from there, and they can't follow.”</p><p>“OK, do it,” Johnny replied, as he skewered a zombie through the chest and used the pole to haul it over the railing.</p><p>Miguel picked up the gun, and hopped onto the lower roof, and took the safety off. He took aim, and shot one of the zombies at the back of the pack. As the walkers turned, Miguel picked up the mop and started banging the wooden handle against the edge of the roof. The cries and moans of the dead began to rise, and they started to move to the railings below the restroom. Their moans grew louder as they saw him, but Johnny was right; zombies were <em>dumb</em>, and it took them a while to navigate the ramp to the base of the building.</p><p>Miguel snapped the head off the mop with his foot, then raised it in the air and slammed it down on the head of the first zombie, and watched as it fell lifeless to the floor.</p><p>There were still too many zombies left down the walkway where Johnny was trapped, and Miguel knew he had to make more noise to attract them out, but he didn't want to waste the last few precious bullets they had, in case they needed them later.</p><p>“Cobra Kai,” Miguel shouted, as he smashed a hole in a walkers skull. “Cobra Kai! COBRA KAI!”</p><p>It was working. The zombies were being driven into a frenzy by the sound, and the last few stragglers headed towards the restroom, as Miguel kept swinging the wooden handle.</p><p>“Looks like someone had a good teacher,” Johnny said from behind Miguel.</p><p>“Johnny!” Miguel cried, as he dropped the mop handle onto the roof and threw himself into his arms. “I thought you were dead.”</p><p>“Cobra Kai never dies, kid,” Johnny said, hugging him tightly. “Don't you forget that.”</p><p>Miguel let out a soft laugh against Johnny's neck.</p><p>“What?” Johnny asked.</p><p>“That just reminded me of something Mr LaRusso said earlier,” Miguel replied with a smile. “I'll tell you about it later.”</p><p>Johnny picked up the gun, and slipped it back into the holster, then said to Miguel, “Tell me, Mr Diaz, how are we going to kill them?”</p><p>“We have the high ground, and they're old, Sensei,” Miguel replied. “I'm going to use this mop handle to crack their skulls.”</p><p>Johnny put his hands behind his back, and said, “ Carry on, Mr Diaz.”</p><p>“Yes, Sensei!” Miguel shouted, as he smashed the pole down onto the head of another walker.</p><p>When all the zombies lay in a pile, Miguel hammered the pole down onto the lip of the roof repeatedly, but nothing cried out in response, and he asked, “Do you think that's all of them?”</p><p>“Probably some trapped inside,” Johnny said. “The dumb shits obviously can't work a door handle though, so we should be OK.”</p><p>They climbed down from the restroom roof, and ran along the pier, back toward the shore.</p><p>“Shit!” Johnny shouted, as he saw the yawning gap in the pier that was now far too wide to jump, and the mass of zombies that were gathered on the other side, attracted by the crackling flames and the explosions from the Harbour Grill and Funnel Cake store. “We need to find a way off here.”</p><p>They ran back towards the end of the pier, and as they exited the underpass between the Harbour office and the Mexican restaurant there was a crash of broken glass and wood, as zombies piled out of the broken doors, falling over each other.</p><p>“Oh shit!” Johnny shouted, as he pushed Miguel left, back towards the steps in front of the harbour office.</p><p>The zombies crawled out from the restaurant over the bodies of the creatures that had fallen through the windows. They staggered down the steps, some falling, and knocking others off their feet, as they made their way out of the building and onto the pier head.</p><p>“If we get up to the top level we can bottleneck them,” Johnny shouted, pointing to the narrow staircase at the top.</p><p>They ran to the top of the stairs, then Johnny helped Miguel climb onto the roof of the Harbor office, and climbed up after him. He took the mop handle, and as the first zombie arrived at the top of the stairs, moaning loudly, and reaching out with it's rotten hands, he struck it from above with the wooden pole.</p><p>As each zombie arrived at the top of the stars Johnny killed it, and the bodies started to pile up, blocking the entrance.</p><p>Miguel could hear more moaning, not just what was coming from the pier below, and he moved to the edge of the building and looked back over to the restaurant. There was a narrow walkway connecting it to the Harbor office, and behind the closed door, the faces of the dead could be seen straining against it as the zombies behind brainlessly pushed forward, attracted to the noise outside.</p><p>“I think we have a problem,” Miguel said, pointing to the door.</p><p>“Shit!” Johnny said, as the glass finally gave way, shattering, and spilling walkers out onto the walkway. “They won't be able to get up here. We should be safe.”</p><p>“All they have to do is wait,” Miguel said. “We can't go down there, and the pier is still on fire! What happens when the flames reach us and there's no way off?”</p><p>“Hey, hey,” Johnny shouted, grabbing him by the arms. “You've done so well, just getting here.”</p><p>“I thought I could save you,” Miguel said, on the verge of tears. “They said they were coming back for you.”</p><p>“Miguel, you've got more courage than anyone I've ever met and you're gonna need all of it to get through this,” Johnny said, holding his hands on Miguel's shoulders. “I'm proud to have been by your side, and whatever happens just remember we tried and no one can take that away from us!”</p><p>Miguel screwed up his face, and said, “Isn't that from <em>Iron Eagle</em>?”</p><p>“Whatever. It still works,” Johnny said. “Now come on, we're gonna fight our way out of here. We aren't giving up.”</p><p>“OK,” Miguel said. “I'll try.”</p><p>“None of this <em>I'll try</em> bullshit. You either do or you don't,” Johnny said. “So what are you going to do?”</p><p>Miguel took a deep breath. “I'm going to kill them.”</p><p>“What are you going to do, Mr Diaz?” Johnny asked loudly.</p><p>“I'm going to kill them all!” Miguel shouted as he grabbed the pole and stabbed it into the head of the nearest zombie.</p><p>The bodies were falling quickly now, but as they did each zombie that came next was a little bit higher as it clawed it's way on to the back of the creature that had fallen before it.</p><p>“We need to get off this roof,” Johnny said, looking round, then he pointed to the next block of the Harbor office, which was surrounded by railings. “Think you can make the jump?”</p><p>The roof was mostly taken up by a tall radio antennae, with wires that criss-crossed the roof holding it upright, but Miguel nodded. He took off at a run, then launched himself into the air, landing with one foot on the railing, and then sprung down onto the roof.</p><p>“I'm mean, I was gonna go first, so I could catch you on the other side, but whatever,” Johnny grumbled as he jumped across the gap and landed safely.</p><p>There was a crash, and sparks flew into the air as another section of the pier gave way, leaving a yawning gap between them and the land, as the fire moved closer, and Miguel watched as the flames began engulf the restrooms at the base of the Harbor office.</p><p>“Over to the roof,” Johnny shouted pointing to the restaurant. </p><p>The gap was wider this time, over the heads of the wailing zombies who were reaching up at them, and with no space to make a run up, Miguel wasn't confident that he could make it.  He put his foot on the railing, then launched himself into the air, and landed, slithering down the yellow roof until he got his feet back under himself.</p><p>Johnny jumped the gap, then walked around the roof, until he was facing away from the fire, and away from the mass of wailing creatures, then sat down.</p><p>Miguel sat next to him, looking out over the ocean, trying to ignore the smell of the smoke, and the moaning calls of the zombies as they burnt.</p><p>Johnny leaned over to Miguel, put his arm round his shoulder, and quietly said, “We had a good run, you and me.”</p><p>“It's not over yet, Sensei,” Miguel said.</p><p>Johnny opened his mouth to speak, then stopped as a noise echoed across the ocean, the sound of synthesised strings, growing louder with every second, and Johnny asked, “What the hell is that?”  </p><p><em>“I had a dream...”</em> a voice sung from the sea.</p><p>As guitar chords came in, loud enough to make the few zombies that were milling on the pier head turn, Johnny said, “No way!”</p><p>“That's Queen!”  Miguel shouted. “They came back!” </p><p>“Daniel,” Johnny said, standing up. </p><p>As Miguel stood up his radio crackled into life, and a voice asked, <em>“Am I late to the party?” </em></p><p>Miguel handed the radio to Johnny, and he said, “You missed all the cool action, as usual, LaRusso.”</p><p><em>“Well, I guess I'll have to do something awesome to attract those zombies away from you,”</em> Daniel said, as the police launch sped round the pier giving off a huge wake, with <em>One Vision</em> blaring over the tannoy system. Daniel stood at the bow of the boat, aimed his machine gun into the air and fired.</p><p>“Oh my god,” Johnny laughed. </p><p>Eli pulled the boat up in front of the restaurant, as Daniel fired into the air, and they cranked the music as loud as it would go.</p><p>The zombies started walking towards the sound, crashing up against the railings of the pier, then tipping over them into the sea as the creatures at the back tried to push forward.</p><p><em>“I think it's time for you both to get off that pier, Johnny”</em> Daniel said over the radio.<em> “It looks clear enough now.”</em></p><p>“The crane!” Miguel shouted, pointing at the yellow machine next to the Harbor office.</p><p>“Good plan,” Johnny said, clapping Miguel on the back. He hopped down from the roof, turning to catch Miguel as he jumped, then they quietly walked behind the few zombies that were left, with the loud music covering their movements.</p><p>They climbed over the small fence, and Johnny moved towards the crane, and pressed at the control buttons, until the cable began to winch upwards. </p><p>Miguel looked over the edge of the railings. “There are a <em>lot</em> of zombies in the water.”</p><p>Johnny raised the radio. “OK, we're ready. I'm gonna send Miguel down first on the crane, but you need to be here to grab him cos apparently some of these fuckers float.”</p><p><em>“We'll be right there,”</em> Daniel said, as the music shut off.</p><p>Johnny pulled a life preserver ring out of its housing, then hooked it through the cable, then tapped it. “Foot on there. I'll lower you down.”</p><p>“How will you get down?” Miguel asked, as he put his foot on the ring, and tested it could take his weight.</p><p>“I'll climb down after you,” Johnny said. “I'll be OK.”</p><p>The boat pulled up next to the pier, and Daniel was on the deck, smiling up at them. He raised his hands, and said, “OK, come on.”</p><p>Johnny hit the button and set the crane cable to start descending. </p><p>“Almost,” Daniel said, reaching his hands out, and then he got a hand on the life ring, and swung Miguel into the boat. </p><p>Miguel jumped down off the ring, and Daniel wrapped him his arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug, then he said, “You did good, kid.”</p><p>“I had two good teachers,” Miguel replied.</p><p>Without the music to distract them, the zombies had started wandering the pier again, and they were beginning to gather at the small fence that surrounded the crane.</p><p>“You better hurry up,” Daniel shouted.</p><p>Johnny grabbed the metal cable tightly with his glove covered hand, then looked down at the boat. “I'm not sure if this is gonna work.”</p><p>The flames were drawing closer, the Harbor office was engulfed in flames, and the zombies were pushing each other, trying to reach him, when the small fence suddenly collapsed under their weight and they spilled into the crane area.</p><p>Johnny jumped over the railing, his hands slipping wildly down the cable, as he fell, and hit the water with a splash.</p><p>“No!” Miguel shouted as Johnny disappeared beneath the surface.</p><p>Johnny appeared, flailing his arms, reaching up towards them, as Miguel and Daniel grabbed his hands and started to pull.</p><p>“Something's got hold of my foot,” Johnny said, as he started to kick.  </p><p>“Eli!” Daniel shouted, as he and Miguel struggled to pull the weight of Johnny and the zombie clear of the water.</p><p>Eli ran across the deck, leaned over the the side of the boat, and grabbed the arm of Johnny's jacket, as Daniel said, “OK, three, two, one, <em>pull!</em>”</p><p>As they hauled upwards they got Johnny half onto the boat, and the zombie's head appeared above the surface for the first time, still clutching onto Johnny's foot, its mouth opening and closing as it tried to bite.</p><p>“Kill it!” Johnny shouted, as the zombie reached out with one hand, grabbing his jeans higher up, as it inched itself upwards.</p><p>With one last pull they dragged Johnny and the zombie onto the boat, and Miguel drew his foot back, then kicked the creature under the jaw, sending its head flying into the sea.</p><p>“I did it!” Miguel shouted. “I kicked the head off a zombie!”</p><p>Johnny got to his feet and grabbed Miguel, pulling him into a damp hug. “I knew you could do it.”</p><p>Johnny released Miguel, then turned and looked at Daniel.</p><p>“Don't you <em>ever</em> do that again!” Daniel shouted angrily, then added, “<em>ASSHOLE!</em>”</p><p>“<em>Man</em>, anyone would think you were worried about me,” Johnny replied with a grin.</p><p>Daniel moved forward quickly, looking for a second like he might attack, then he grabbed Johnny with both hands by the front of his jacket and pulled him into a kiss.</p><p>Miguel couldn't help but smile, then Eli raised his hand, and Miguel high fived him.</p><p>“Sorry,” Daniel said to Eli and Miguel, as he pushed Johnny away. </p><p>“Whatever, we've know for <em>ages</em>,” Eli said.</p><p>“Yeah, you guys aren't exactly subtle you know,” Miguel added. “You two are <em>terrible</em> at hiding things.” </p><p>“They knew all this time,” Daniel said, burying his head in Johnny's neck, looking like he was about to die of embarrassment.</p><p>“I told you they knew,” Johnny said. </p><p>“When?”</p><p>“At the grounds keeper's house,” Johnny said. “I told you they could hear us.”</p><p>“No, Johnny, I think your exact words were <em>'I'm gonna make you scream so loud even Miyagi will hear it in his grave'</em> which by the way is a really, <em>really</em> awful thing to say to someone.”</p><p>“Whatever, you said<em> I love you</em> first.” Johnny said. “You are <em>such</em> a girl.” </p><p>“I wouldn't be so sure about that,” Daniel said, with a grin. “I'm pretty sure saying it first is <em>totally</em> an alpha move.” </p><p>“Yeah, well guess what, dipshit?” Johnny said, aggressively prodding a finger into Daniel's chest. “I love you too, and now you're stuck with me, so who's the loser now, <em>huh?</em>”</p><p>Daniel looked at Johnny for a moment, then asked, “What is wrong with you?” </p><p>“I dunno,” Johnny said. “What's wrong with <em>you</em> for falling in love with me? I mean, I'm not exactly a catch am I?”</p><p> </p><p><br/>
After a 15 minute argument where Johnny listed all the reasons why Daniel was an idiot for falling in love with him, they finally gave up, and sat quietly on the boat watching the pier fall into the sea from a safe distance.</p><p>“How the hell did it end up on fire anyway?” Daniel asked, as they watched the steady stream of zombies that were exiting the city walk into the flames.</p><p>“I wanted funnel cake,” Johnny replied.</p><p>“Funnel cake?” Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“Yeah, but it turns out those big fryer things are <em>really</em> hard to work,” Johnny replied, as the carousel building collapsed in the distance.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They decided to stay on the boat for the night. It was safer than trying to get back to the car in the dark, and they were confident that the high, shiny sides of the boats meant any zombies that floated past wouldn't be able to climb on board.</p><p>They went inside, closing the doors to keep the chilly night air out, and Johnny dragged Daniel down the stairs, saying “We're just going to...”</p><p>“Check something out,” Daniel added.</p><p>“Yeah,” Johnny nodded. </p><p>“Go,” Miguel said with a laugh.</p><p>20 minutes later Miguel realised that they had all underestimated just how quiet it was on the boat without the engine running, and just how far sound would travel in the confined space.</p><p>Miguel and Eli didn't know where to look, but it certainly wasn't at each other.</p><p>“I wish they were still trying to keep it a secret,” Eli muttered.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
They headed back to the Marina at the first light of day, and found the car was still where they left it. They drove back to the trailer, and Daniel told Johnny to go take a walk on the beach with Miguel while they hooked it back up to the car.</p><p>They walked in silence down to the edge of the water, and didn't look back, neither wanting to see the cage, and the crumpled body in it, being dragged out.</p><p>Thirty minutes later the car pulled up alongside them, and Daniel said, “I've got a present for you.”</p><p>“What is it?” Johnny asked.</p><p>Daniel got out of the car, and threw Johnny a can of beer. “I found it in a cooler on the boat.”</p><p>“Coors Organic?” Johnny said, rolling his eyes. “Why didn't you get me a Mang-O-Rita while you were at it?” </p><p>“Look at the side,” Daniel said, smiling. </p><p>Johnny looked at it for a second, then said, “Brewed in Irwindale, California.” </p><p>Daniel smiled softly, and said, “Coors have a brewery just over an hour away.”</p><p>“Are you <em>kidding</em> me?” Johnny shouted. “All this time I could have been rolling in Banquet?”</p><p>“Pretty much, yeah,” Daniel replied.</p><p>“So,” Johnny said, raising an eyebrow. “Road trip?”</p><p> </p><p><br/>
A day later, when they arrived at Irwindale, they discovered that Coors Banquet was only brewed in Golden, Colorado.</p><p>“So, really <em>long</em> road trip?” Johnny asked, and Daniel kissed the side of his head.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
In Colorado they found the brewery without problem, and Johnny finally found his beloved Coors Banquet. </p><p>He pulled out his Polaroid camera, set it up on a keg and started the timer.</p><p>“Everyone has their bottles, right?” he asked, as the camera buzzed. Everyone nodded, and he said, “OK, say cheers!”</p><p>The photo was perfect. All four of them holding up their bottles of Coors Banquet, and looking happy. Miguel took a photo of it on his phone, then handed it back to Johnny. He pulled the photo up, then set it as his wallpaper, so he could see his new family every time he unlocked it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After they picked him up off the floor from his drunken stupor Johnny asked to be left alone for a few minutes to pay his last respects.</p><p>When they drove away, a trailer full of bottles towed behind them, Daniel looked in the rear view mirror and saw smoke rising into the sky.</p><p>“Johnny, what did you do?” he asked, as the brewery burst into flame.</p><p>“Told you I was gonna drink the last one,” Johnny slurred from the back seat.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The first thing Johnny did when they arrived back at the big white mansion in Encino was to go into the garage and lay on the hood of the Firebird. </p><p>“Oh baby, I've missed you, and I'll never leave you again,” he said, as he pressed a kiss to the faded paint. </p><p>“You cheating on me, Lawrence?” Daniel asked with a grin.</p><p>“This car was my first love, LaRusso, so it's the other way round,” Johnny replied </p><p>“<em>Really?</em>” Daniel asked, as Johnny climbed off the car. “I seem to remember you having an Avanti convertible when we first met.” </p><p>“<em>Oh</em>, you're funny,” Johnny said, stepping closer. </p><p>“I like to think so,” Daniel replied with a cocky grin.</p><p>Johnny reached out and grabbed Daniel by the back of his shirt, then started marching him across the garage floor.</p><p>Miguel smiled at them, and shook his head, then asked, “You want us to unpack the car?”</p><p>“Yeah, you're in charge.  Show Eli round and find him a room, OK?” Johnny said as he pulled Daniel through the door by his collar. “Preferably one down the other end of the house, near yours.” </p><p>“Make sure you get some dinner,” Daniel shouted as the door closed behind them.<br/>
 </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They settled in, after bringing Daniel and Eli's possessions over from the other house, and Daniel made plans to dig up the tennis court and plant a vegetable garden, despite Johnny's claims that they should find a few cows and raise their own meat on the land instead.</p><p>Miguel was happy to be back in his own bedroom, and Eli had a room just across from him. They spent hours playing in the soundproof cinema room, with ps4 hooked up to the projector. </p><p>Life was pretty great, despite the dwindling numbers of the dead walking outside the perimeter of the fence, and for the first time in a long time Miguel felt completely safe and happy.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Hey, kids,” Johnny said one day a few weeks later. “Wanna come see this?”</p><p>Miguel and Eli followed Daniel and Johnny down to the garage. They walked through the doors, and Johnny asked, “What do you think?”</p><p>The Firebird was still parked close to the door, next to the black car, but the rest of the floor had been lined with mats, and on one of the walls they had assembled a vast array of mirrors that had been pilfered from various houses.</p><p>“Are we gonna train here?” Miguel asked, excitedly.</p><p>“Yeah,” Johnny said, then he slung an arm around Daniel's shoulder. “We're gonna teach you everything we know, both of us,”</p><p>Miguel ran over and wrapped his arms around them both. “Thank you!”</p><p>“You know, I've been thinking a lot about what you said back in the house at the country club,” Daniel said. </p><p>“What's that?” Johnny asked. </p><p>“About how it's their world, not ours,” Daniel replied. “There's probably kids out there who are alone and who need help.” </p><p>“You thinking about adopting?” Johnny asked him, jokingly.</p><p>“I'm just saying,” Daniel replied. “We have the space, and now you have somewhere to train them so they'll be able to take of themselves.”</p><p>“What's with the <em>'you'</em>?” Johnny asked. “Why not <em>'we'</em>?”</p><p>“Oh, I'll help,” Daniel replied. “But you're the ace zombie killer. This is going to be Cobra Kai all the way, and it's your dojo.”</p><p>“You know, I think maybe we should paint something on this wall over here,” Johnny said. “It looks pretty bare. Something badass. Like a statement of intent.”</p><p>“If you're thinking what I <em>think</em> you're thinking, then it needs some slight adjustments,” Daniel replied</p><p>After some discussion, some slight raised voices, and one hard push that resulted Daniel on the floor and Johnny on top of him, they finally settled on what was going on the wall.</p><p> </p><p>They stood back, Johnny holding a paintbrush, and Daniel holding a can of paint, both covered in black smears.</p><p>“I think it's OK,” Johnny said, tilting his head.</p><p>“Yeah, it's a good compromise,” Daniel replied.</p><p>“I think it's perfect,” Miguel said, as he looked at the words on the wall.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <em>Strike Zombies First</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Strike Zombies Hard </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Zombies Deserve No Mercy</em>
</p><p><br/>
Johnny opened the door of the Firebird, grinned at Daniel and said, “Come on, let's go see who we can find.” </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I've never actually posted a work in progress before, so I have to say a big thanks to everyone who left comments and kudos, as they really encouraged me to work faster :-D</p><p>I've had such an amazing time writing this fic, and I'm honestly going to miss it!</p><p>Also thanks Xolo for posting pictures of yourself on the Santa Monica Pier 😆</p><blockquote class="instagram-media">
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